Raising Jackals
by DragonScouter
Summary: Every guild has their beginnings; how they were started, and how they started to grow. This is the tale of one such guild, secluded high in the mountains. A guild where everyone is given a chance at family and happiness, no matter what your past. This is the guild of jackals. This is Jackal Fang. Rated T to be safe.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs...of which there will be many in this story as it continues.**

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 **Authoress: Well, the beginning of the story had to happen. So, here we go!**

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Prologue

 **Anu's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I felt nervous as I paced down the halls of Era. It was February twenty-seventh in the year 785 and exactly one week prior, I had submitted a request to start a guild. The entire situation that I was working on was very tricky. While making a guild was usually a very simple process to go through…I had some hiccups in my past. Also, the first five members that I was wanting to ask to join my guild was another reason for the delay in my request being accepted…if it would be.

Back before the year 775, I had been a member of the dark guild known as Death's Head Caucus. As a transformation mage, I had been efficient in killing all of my targets that I was assigned and I was able to keep out of the eyes of many people, both good and dark. However, in 774, I grew tired of being a dark mage and killing people. Yes, I enjoyed the thrill of chasing down my targets…but killing them seemed wrong. So, I had gone to the King and had requested that, in return for immunity from my past crimes, I would give him and the Magic Council any and all information that I was asked for in regards of Death's Head Caucus and any other dark guild that I was asked about that I had information on.

They agreed and, once I was allowed my immunity from my past crimes…my new start, I was now a free mage in Fiore. However, that caused a problem. The Magic Council had stipulated that I had to join a legal guild and be a member for four years, or I had to work for the Magic Council for 4 years. Guess they wanted me watched closely. Couldn't blame them really. The problem was that, at first, none of the guilds would take me when they heard of my past. This wasn't looking good for me and I was afraid that I would have to go with the second option. I didn't want to have to be that close to the Council and so I hoped that a guild would let me join them.

Then, came the day that changed my life. May eighth in the year 775 arrived and, while I was walking back to my office from taking papers to one of the Council members, I happened to bump into a small old man that didn't even reach my shoulders…at all. I had apologized profusely to him, worried that he was a guest of the Council and I might have just offended one…not good if I was supposed to be behaving. However, he had laughed and had said that there was no harm. We then traded names, his being Makarov Dreyer, guild master of Fairy Tail, and my own being Anu Biskaln, ex-dark guild mage and temporarily working for the Magic Council.

I had been surprised that I was standing in front of the leader of Fairy Tail, one of the most famous guilds up and coming. Fairy Tail had been one of the few guilds that I had not asked to join because I figured that, since they were up and coming, they wouldn't want a mage to join them with such a dark past as I did.

It seemed, though, that I had been wrong. I had gotten into a conversation with Master Makarov on that day that had led to, on that same day, my joining Fairy Tail. My guild stamp had been gold on my neck and, for the five years I decided to be a member of Fairy Tail, I did not hate it. It was amazing that I was able to do that much. Going from a dark guild, and assassin guild to boot, to a guild that was so light and close nit…I had been uncomfortable being around the other members. When you were a member of an assassin guild, you learned not to trust anyone and always keep an eye on everyone because they could turn around and kill you.

But, Fairy Tail had been so different. They were accepting, the few members I met were at least, and Makarov was always encouraging me to get to know the other guild members. But, I couldn't fight the well-trained force that I had been ingrained with and trust them completely. That was why I ended up leaving Fairy Tail in 780. They deserved to have a guildmate who trusted them in return for the trust that they placed in me.

I spent these past five years since I left Fairy Tail learning to trust those around me. It hasn't always been easy, but about a month ago, I felt like I was ready to trust enough to create my own guild, a guild who, like Fairy Tail, accepted all who came to me. But, another goal of my guild was to help past members of dark guilds be integrated as fully accepted mages who also could learn to trust those around them.

And that was why the first five members that I wanted for my guild were the currently locked up Oracion Seis.

True, if I wasn't aiming my goal of first members so…high, then I probably could have already had my guild approved of and I could start looking for members. But, I wanted them. Not for their power of course. That wasn't the way to run a guild. But, from all of my pre-searching, they were the ones that would make the best candidates for starting guild members.

The five of them were past dark guild mages, core members of the now disbanded Oracion Seis. Plus, from my research on them…they weren't really bad people at heart. They were almost raised in the Tower of Heaven, from the report I got, and they were really only looking for a chance to be free. But, their path before them had ended up getting them placed in prison and being constantly monitored by the Magic Council. However, that monitoring allowed me to use more of my resources to find out that the five of them were understanding of what had led them to be imprisoned.

That was critical for my goals. But, I wouldn't be able to move forward after this without the approval of the Council to, not only wipe the slates of the Seis clean but to not let leak their release to any of the other guilds. As much as I appreciated all that Fairy Tail did for me, the hopeful five first members of my guild had a very rough history with Fairy Tail and I wanted my guild members to be ready to attack those problems of their pasts before they were thrust upon them.

Of course, they had to be members of my guild first. If the Council did approve of what I was proposing, then it would be up to the five of them to decide if they would become a part of my guild. I had already decided that I would not hold anything back and answer any questions they would have. It wouldn't be easy for me but, with these years of training that I had been putting myself under, then I was sure that I would be able to do it.

For all my future members? It would probably take more training myself to trust before I would be ready to be so open with others. But, the Seis would be different. They knew something of the kind of life I used to live…actually they probably knew it better than I did. Besides my hope of helping the Seis earn the freedom that they had always wanted, I wanted the Seis to be the first members because they were some of the few people who would understand what I was going through and we could work together.

The sound of the doors to my right opening caused me to look and I saw that the guard was motioning me inside the Council chambers. That meant that the Council had made up their mind on what to do about my request…hopefully. I wasn't in the mood to deal with long drawn out discussions but, for the hopeful creation of my guild, I would endure it the best I could.

My eyes first landed on a mage with an eyepatch and long brown hair that stood on end. His name was Kre Clegend. Not worth much of my time but he would help in making the decision about my proposal. So, I would be nice for now. Then, they fell to a man with short brown hair and wore a cape over his right shoulder. His name was Yorzin Ausett and he could make a racket when he wanted to. But, he also was a factor in the decision on my guild so I would bide my time.

Then, I noticed that they tall spindly man in shorts with a cape falling down his back and a big hat was staring at me. I noticed he was nervous. His name was Krane Cudstol and, while that reaction was normally what I wanted to happen when I walked into a room, this was an exception so I simply nodded toward him. I couldn't read what Gemiack Ciktol was thinking since he had that mask over his eyes. He was one I had to be careful around. But, I was here to impress them and not make enemies so I made sure to watch my step.

The woman, Ziramy Maltun, had a regal look to her as her lavender hair was pulled in a bun. Reminded me of an heiress but I knew better than to be deceived by appearances. Both she and Vesdin Dummu, the man with sunglasses on and an afro style of hair, reminded me of that practice. But, Vesdin's mustache was making it hard for me to take him seriously. It was massive and made him look like an idiot.

Thefis Castual looked as shady as he always did when I saw him, and I made sure to avoid eye contact. It would not do me well to get into a fight with the young upstart who wormed his way onto this new Council. Of course, the one that I really needed to look out for was Gran Doma, the Chairman of the new Magic Council. He had only held the position for a year, but he was already making his mark as a stern man who would not take any nonsense. He would probably be the one I would have to verbally spar with today.

However, the final member of the council was one that I was counting on as a sort of ally in this matter; Org. A member of the previous Council he would understand the goal that I was trying to reach and, with my background of being a past Fairy Tail member, who I have heard he has started to look at with a more positive view, I hoped he will help me clench the victory that I am aiming for here today.

"Anu Biskaln," Gran Doma started with a hard look at me. "it has come to the attention of the Council that you wish to start a magic guild…is that correct?"

I nodded once. "Yes, sir."

He nodded and seemed to look at his notes, though I had a feeling that he knew what he was going to say next before he started. "And it also says here that you wish to have the five members of the Oracion Seis,"

"Past members." I corrected him immediately. The fact that they were _past_ members was critical of my argument in having them absolved of their crimes and placed under the care of myself and this new guild that I was wishing to create.

Org looked like he approved of my interruption, but didn't say anything. However, Thefis Castual certainly had something to say…and it wasn't pleasant. "Don't interrupt the Chairman when he is speaking to you dog." He had an angered look in his eyes that told me that the Council member would like nothing more than to come down here and rip my throat out for creating such an offense. But really, the Chairman was the one who messed up and still referred to my prospective members as current members of a dark guild.

However, I needed to garner favor with the Council on this if I was to gain approval. "My apologies for the interruptions Chairman. Please, continue when you feel ready."

Gran Doma looked at me like he couldn't tell if I was mocking him or not, which I was, before he continued. "As I was saying, you wish to have the five previous dark guild mages known as Midnight, Hoteye, Angel, Cobra, and Racer as the first members of your guild. If this request would be followed, you wish for their criminal history to be erased and for us to keep their release to ourselves until the past dark guild mages themselves are ready to deal with the onslaught that news of their release will bring. Is that correct?"

Again I nodded. "Yes, Chairman sir." Keep the answers short and sweet and honest. That would help me win the coming argument.

"You are clearly out of your mind." Krane commented with the shake of his head. "Do you honestly believe that you can take five of the most dangerous dark mages we have in custody and turn them into perfect law-abiding citizens?"

I let out a laugh at that before shaking my head. "No, sir. I can not make them do anything. However, I believe that I can show them the correct path to living a better life that will keep them out of trouble and maybe even make a benefit for the country as a whole."

"And how do you propose that?" Ziramy commented. She seemed neutral to the idea so far so I had to work my pitch correctly. If I was reading the room right, I had three of the Council members who would agree with my proposal if they voted right now. Org I saw coming, but I didn't expect Vesdin and Kre to look like they would approve as well. I guess I needed to take back the idiot comment I made about Vesdin…though that mustache was still hard to take seriously.

Then, from the look in the room, I had four who were opposed to my proposal right now. They were Gran Doma, Thefis, Krane, and Gemiack. I expected them but, besides Thefis, I was sure I would be able to convince the rest of the council to give my prospective members a chance. I just had to present my case.

The other mage on the neutral side, besides Ziramy, was Yorzin. I heard he was a critical thinker and I guess he was waiting to hear what my proposal was as well as to see how I responded to rebuttal before picking a side. I would have to present my case pretty well.

So, I had to start by answering Ziramy's question. "Well, I am sure that you are all aware of this, but I feel that it is my duty to remind you; I was once a part of the assassin guild known as Death Head Caucus. Not only that, I was a very proficient member who, in the dark guild circles, was known very well by reputation but never by name. I can make a connection with the five mages in question, unlike any other light guild who reports to the Council. My own past as a dark guild mage will also allow the five to see that I understand what they went through and I would not be an overbearing and controlling guild master who would use them. That would be a detriment to what I would try and accomplish with them."

She seemed satisfied by my response but Yorzin now had a question of his own. "I understand your reasoning here Anu, but these are past criminals who are very powerful when they are not restrained. They are not the type to just 'take suggestions'. What would you be able to give us as insurance that they would be well behaved and try to integrate into the mage community?"

That was a tricky question and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew that. If I answered in a way that would seem like I was controlling the five mages, then that would cancel out the statement that I had just made to Ziramy and turn both her and Yorzin against me and then I would not stand a chance at winning over any of the ones that were against me and I would lose the argument…and the chance to have the five mages as the first members of my guild.

However, if I answered that I did not have a plan to ensure their cooperation without anything else behind it, then I again stood the chance of losing allies in this decision. This seemed like a catch twenty-two and I was not liking this question. I had to think carefully with how I answered this.

"See? The man can't even say what he would do if they turned on him." Kre let out a laugh and I could see, from the falling looks on Yorzin's and Ziramy's faces, that I needed to answer quickly. "This is such a waste of time. Let's just,"

"One moment, Kre." I interrupted the man as an idea suddenly sprang in my head. It was a crazy idea but it was one that I was willing to take. Makarov had always considered us guild members as his children and he would take responsibility for our actions. "The question simply surprised me for a moment. I do not expect the five mages in question to turn on me so even the assumption that they would was surprising and I had to reorient myself." I then let out a breath before making my ultimatum. "I understand your concern for them, however. So, I offer this to you instead. The members may choose to leave my guild whenever they want. Whether they are a part of my guild or not, I will take sole and full responsibility for their actions and will take the punishments for all five upon myself."

There it was now. They had my ultimatum for this deal. If the five hopeful members of my guild ever crossed that line indefinitely, then I would take full punishment for them. That was offering up my own freedom, which hadn't been easy to gain in the first place, so they could have a chance at true…unrestricted freedom. Now, I just needed a response from the Council.

From the looks now showing in the room from most of the mages, I had just won my argument. I didn't like moving that far, and the thinking part of my mind was starting to finally catch up to my mouth, but it was too late. I had already said the words and now there was no going back. My freedom for theirs. That was the deal. If they stepped out of line, it would be my neck under the chopping block.

Gran Doma looked practically giddy at my ultimatum and it wanted me to go hide in a corner…if I wasn't trying to look professional. Even though he wasn't on the Council when I had made my deal for my freedom, he was a politician and he had made his opinion about my deal very vocal…and it hadn't been positive. So, for me to be offering that very freedom up now was probably wanting him to have the agreement for my guild written immediately. Guess I had to have faith in my new guild members now. My own freedom was connected to them.

Org looked surprised, which was rare for the Councilman. He was known for keeping his feelings off of his face when he was showed a surprising situation. I guess offering my freedom would be something that would break even _his_ façade of calm. I remembered that he was on the Council when I had earned that freedom that I was offering in the first place and so he knew just how much of a risk I was taking.

Thefis of course, looked like he still didn't want to accept. I was starting to think that man just wanted to refuse me whatever I wanted. If I had asked for the Council to kill me, he would probably reject that just to go against what I wanted.

The other Council members who had looked against my proposition now had looks that showed that they were going to be more than supportive of the creation of my guild. Some had the same sort of look as Gran Doma while the others had looks that showed that they appreciated the sacrifice my non-thinking mouth had just offered them. The two neutral members of the Council, thankfully, looked like they were going to be completely supportive of the gamble that I had just laid out before them all.

Gran Doma clearing his throat caused all of us to look toward him before he started to speak, "Well, we have heard Anu Asim Biskaln," I flinched when I heard my middle name. Not many people used it and I didn't like it being used. People knowing your full name could be dangerous in a land that had many citizens who used magic…and not all of them nice people. From the look in Gran Doma's eyes, he knew how much this was bothering me but I had to be quiet for now. "I believe that it is now time to take up a vote as to his proposal." I could see a gleam of victory in his eyes and I just had to hope that this trust that I was placing in my potential new guild members would be accepted.

Ziramy then took over. "All in favor of accepting the proposal for the new guild that Anu Biskaln would like to create, including the clause we have just discussed, say aye. Opposed say no."

Gran Doma was the first to answer. "Aye." The look of victory in his eyes was making me want to go and puke.

Org then answered. "Aye."

"No." That was Thefis so that made the vote two in favor and one against. From the look that Gran Doma was sending Thefis he was not happy with that no. If two more of the Council voted no, then the proposal would be shot down.

"Aye." Ziramy said as her answer with a small smile toward me. I guess I turned her to my side better than I thought that I did. I would have to get some more information on her eventually.

I then moved my sights to Vesdin as he nodded. "I give an aye as well. I'm curious as to how this new guild will turn out if the vote carries." He was one of my early supports, from what I had gauged, so I had to make sure to keep an eye out for him and what his motives might be. I didn't like owing people favors. As long as this wasn't a close vote, then I would be alright from blackmail.

Krane then nodded. "Aye." But, the glare he was sending me was showing that he wasn't thrilled about the vote. But, with the enthusiastic 'aye' that I got from Gran Doma, you would have to be an idiot like Thefis to refuse my proposal.

"Aye." Gemiack answered with a nod. No facial expression. Just a nod.

Yorzin then nodded and I saw appreciation in his eyes. "Aye."

Finally, we all looked at Kre who was nodding. "An aye for me as well. This new guild will be crazy to say the least. Let's see how long it'll last."

Oh, I planned on my guild lasting for a long time. In time, I hoped that it would even be able to rival Fairy Tail in strength as they were in the past. Nowadays, they weren't so strong. But, back when Makarov was around, they were a force to be reckoned with and I wanted my guild to eventually match that force.

But, as I looked back to that sickening smirk that was on Gran Doma's face, I realized that I would have many trials to overcome before I would be able to achieve that strength. "It is decided." Gran Doma started. "The motion has been approved. Anu Biskaln," Well, at least he didn't use my middle name. I paid attention to him as he continued. "you will have two months to fill out the necessary paperwork including the name of your guild and the symbol you want to use to identify your guild. We will also, by that time, need a list of members in your guild. That list is to be updated every year on the date that your paperwork is sent in and approved of."

So, my yearly paperwork would be due sometime in the April month of each year if I was able to hold off on the paperwork for that long. It would be manageable but I would have to make sure that my guild kept up on the paperwork. I didn't need to give the Council any reason to disband us. While our disbandment would not cause the loss of my freedom, it might take away those of the five members that I wanted to add and that was not something that I would risk. I figured that it would take at least ten years before the Council would lose their hold on the five members I wanted to add and not have that power. In ten years, they would have proved themselves to the mages on the Council and be able to continue on in their own way. Hopefully, they would stay in the guild I was now in charge of.

"Thank you." I thanked them all with a bow of my head before turning to leave.

Once I was outside the doors, though, I let out a sigh of relief and found my back getting support from the wall next to the Council doors. I…I couldn't believe that I just did that. My own freedom was not easy to get at all and now I had just offered that up to the vultures in there for the chance to let the five potential members of my guild have freedom. It was a strange sacrifice but I hoped that, in time, I would appreciate what I was doing now. For now, though, I felt like I needed a drink…a lot of drink.

"Anu," I barely avoided flinching at the sound of my name being called and I turned to see Lahar approaching me. Guess the Council didn't want to waste any time in letting me offer my deal to the five potential members of my new guild. "I believe that tomorrow at noon would be an appropriate time for you to meet with the five past members of the Oracion Seis. Would that be acceptable for you?"

Well fuck. There went my hope of getting plastered tonight to get over the fact that I just offered up my freedom. It wasn't that I was mad about wanting to help the five hopeful members of my guild…it was just that I wasn't used to trusting people on this extreme level. Not even at Fairy Tail had I been so trusting. This situation also wasn't helped by the fact that I didn't even know these mages personally and I was offering such a highly precious thing as my own freedom to ensure the freedom of mages that I did not know yet.

But, I had to bite the magic bullet and accept the fate that I had set before myself. "That will be fine. I'll try to get there early. I want to talk to the five of them alone but I don't want them to know what is going on completely until we are alone. So, I will be using my magic to stay inconspicuous." I then turned to leave him. But, before I got far, a memory about one of my future members came to me and so I turned back to Lahar quickly. "And Lahar," He looked at me confused. I kept a neutral look on my own face as I continued. "try to keep your thoughts about this away from your mind when you go and get them." I could see the look of understanding cross his face at what I said and he nodded once before walking away.

As I walked out of the doors of the Fiore branch of the Magic Council, I sighed. My life today was moving quickly and I couldn't even get myself plastered to get the nerves out of my system. I would have to stop by a store and by a bottle of whiskey. While it wouldn't get me drunk, unfortunately, the bottle would give me just enough of a buzz to get me to sleep tonight and allow me to wake up and get ready tomorrow with enough time to spare. I was going to try and get to the room at around eleven and be in my transformed jackal state before my five potential members arrived.

Turning a corner that led to the convenience store that I remembered had a cheap price for their whiskey, I started to clear my mind. I needed to stay calm until I got to my room and was alone. This would, hopefully, be the last night that I was alone and I had to make sure that I would have a great night. Tomorrow was going to be the fresh start to a new chapter in my life…and even though I was more nervous than I was letting show, I knew that this had to turn out for the best.

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 **Anu: I don't like how this is boding. I hope for your safety, Authoress, that this all goes smoothly.**

 **Authoress: Well, not many of my OCs get that daring against me. You are taking quite the risk.**

 **Anu: *shrugs* Not really. I've lived this long in the world that I have learned to read everyone I meet. You are simple to read.**

 **Authoress: *upset* Now that's just rude.**

 **Anu: *smirks* Bite me.**

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 **AN: And this is the beginning of what I hope will be a new story. Now, there will not be many regular Fairy Tail people in this story. This is more of an introductory story to how most of my OCs that will come to be a part of my OC guild get there...plus my non-OC founding members if they choose to join. If they don't...then we probably really won't have much of a story. But, we'll have to see the next time I get an update of this out if they do or not.**

 **Let me know how I did with this so far. I've dabbled in Fairy Tail a couple of times but took the stories down because I wasn't as impressed with them as I wanted to be. I have high hopes for this one though, and the sequels that will follow that will eventually...**

 **...What kind of writer would I be if I told you what to expect in the future? You wouldn't have to read my stuff then. XD**

 **Something that will start when I post the next chapter will be me giving you a sneak peek at the future names of the chapters. It's something I do in my other stories and I find that it helps me to focus. But, that won't start until next chapter. Don't want you all to get a sneak peek this early in the story, do I?**

 **So, until next time, leave a review...even if it is to say hello. This just lets me know that you all are actually real and not just some computer program making it look like I have viewers reading. XD Until next time, TTYL! *feels like it is TOO cold***


	2. Oracion Jackals

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs...which actually aren't a lot this chapter. XD**

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 **Anu: *impatient* Authoress...**

 **Authoress: *cries* I'm sorry! I didn't realize that I forgot to post this until it was midnight and my computer was downstairs!**

 **Anu: *sighs* Fine. But, you had better make up for the delay.**

 **Authoress: *nods quickly* Will do!**

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Chapter 1: Oracion Jackals

 **Cobra's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

I growled to myself as I glanced at the four stone walls that surrounded me that were only broken up by the iron bars of the door that stood between me and freedom. It was our own fault that we were here…but I didn't like it. I didn't like being confined in this small cell. I wanted to be free again. But, if the Magic Council had their way, we wouldn't ever have a chance to be outside again. We screwed up by listening to Brain, but we didn't know anything else. After the Tower of Heaven, he became all we knew and we followed the man blindly. Now we were paying the price for that blind loyalty.

I wouldn't call any of us reformed though…not really. To be reformed means that we had to be completely evil in the first place. That wasn't right. We had just wanted to be completely free. But, I realized that we had gone after that freedom in the wrong way. We tried to force that freedom from everyone…even people who weren't stopping our freedom. It was a lot to take in…that we were wrong. But the years I had spent in this cell had shown me that there had been better ways of getting freedom. But, with our lots drawn, I doubted that we would ever get that freedom.

"I don't know why that mutt is doing this. He has to be crazy."

My curiosity skyrocketed when I suddenly heard that inner thought from someone entering my cell unit. There was no one else in my cell unit so this person had to be coming for me. What were they talking about though?

"He must really believe that they can change. The mutt must have seen something in them all…or he is just as insane as we've always thought he was." The familiar inner voice of Lahar came to my ears. What were Lahar and the probable rune knight with him thinking about? And what was Lahar doing down here? He wasn't one that normally came down to the cells. Usually, I would play my mind games with Doranbolt. But, Lahar being down here meant that there was something important about to happen.

I heard another door open and close before I heard two sets of footsteps grow closer to me. Well, whatever it was going to be about, I was going to find out soon. It wasn't long before Lahar and a rune knight arrived in front of my cell door. "Seems like you're still alive." The rune knight commented to me.

Letting out a scoff, I shook my head. "Obviously your eyes work decently enough to see." I hoped I didn't have to deal with this idiot or this was going to be a long day.

"This is going to be annoying. Why did that dog have to be so persistent?" The rune knight thought to himself.

Who the fuck was this dog they were talking about and what did he have to do with why these two were in front of my cell right now? Hopefully, they would let me know soon. I didn't like not knowing the information and these two seemed to be being careful to not slip whoever this 'mutt' was.

Since I doubted that they would be telling me who this guy was, I figured I had better get this show started. "So, what brings the great Lahar to come to my humble room?" I asked in a sarcastic voice. The sooner he was done, the sooner I could find out who this 'mutt' was.

"You are to come with us. You have a visitor." Lahar answered, much to my surprise.

Who the hell could be visiting me? I didn't know anyone who would be considered a 'mutt' that would visit me. The only person who would maybe visit me would be Cubelios and, if they were calling her a mutt, I would tear their throats out.

Once the door to the cell opened, I stood and waited for the rune knight to put my cuffs on. Once they were on, he motioned me out and the three of us started to walk down the halls. "I still don't see what that dog wants with them all." I heard the rune knight think.

Wait…who wanted what with us? Usually hearing someone's thoughts would help me solve what was going on around me…but this was just making this situation more confusing. Was someone wanting to use me and whoever else this rune knight was thinking about? I was not going to lose my freedom. I was already restricted because of my imprisonment…and that was due to my own crimes. I would not allow my freedom to be further taken away by whoever this was.

"That mutt…he better know what he is doing." Lahar thought to himself.

With that thought from Lahar, I realized that they were purposefully avoiding thinking about this 'mutt's' name. Lahar was more interesting and, unless he was calling someone by their name, he would come up with a different name at least once. But, with the multiple times that he had thought about my visitor as a mutt, I knew that they were hiding who it was from me. I didn't like this at all.

After a few more minutes of walking we arrived at a simple white door and Lahar motioned forward. Giving him an annoyed glare, I walked inside and I found myself surprised to see Midnight, whose name was really Macbeth, Angel, whose name was really Sorano, Racer, whose name was Sawyer, and Hoteye, whose name was Richard. What were they doing here? Did this mutt character have something planned with the Oracion Seis? If so, where were Brain and Klodoa…not that I was complaining about their absence. Out of everyone, those two were the ones that I could stand the least. I hated their guts. It was a relief that they weren't in here.

"Alright…we've waited long enough. Who is here to see us?" Sorano asked, slightly tapping her toes in annoyance.

Lahar and the rune knight threw each other a look before Lahar nodded and the rune knight let out a sigh. He then came around and, to my surprise, unlocked all our cuffs. What the hell was going on? "Your visitor wanted to speak with you without those on. Just as a reminder, the entire prison is secured by a magical barrier that will probably kill you if you try to leave." He then cleared his throat a little. "Your visitor, however, did not wish for anyone but you five in this room when he talked to you. So, we will leave you for now. That damn mutt will know how to tell us he is done talking to you." He then shook his head before leading the rune knight out of the room. He then paused as the rune knight left. Lahar went to follow but stopped before looking back into the room. "Keep out of trouble."

Lahar then shut the door behind him.

…That last part didn't sound like he was talking to us. I wasn't liking this at all. "So, what are we supposed to do now?" Sawyer asked as he lounged on the couch. "The only ones in here are us five and that dog in the corner. When is our visitor supposed to get here?"

"Did you say dog?" I asked, now looking around the room. Movement from next to the couch Sawyer was laying on caused me to focus as a dog walked into view. Our visitor really was a mutt. From the look of the dog, though, he had a lot of jackal in his blood.

"Cobra." I jumped slightly as I heard my name come from the dog's thoughts.

The others didn't notice my jump as Sawyer answered me while motioning to the dog that just had a clear thought of my name. "Yeah, this dog has been in here since I got in here, and they brought me first. He didn't wake up until just now."

Doubtful. I was now sure that the dog had been studying us. It was either a sentient dog or…"I am a mage." Again. Again, that dog's thoughts went into my head. This time, I realized that the dog, who was a mage, was communicating with me.

"What the hell?" Sawyer yelped as the mage started to transform from his dog state. The man's height grew to five feet nine. He had black hair and golden yellow animalistic eyes. His skin was a little darker than Macbeth's…though not by much, and he seemed to be very comfortable in a room with us.

Once this mage was fully transformed, he sat in the spot that Sawyer had just vacated in favor of the other side of the couch, and we were all tense. But, the mage didn't seem to be nervous in the slightest around us. Who was he? "Who are you?" Macbeth asked the mage finally.

In return, the golden-eyed mage glanced around at all of us before he smiled and said, "My apologies for not introducing myself earlier. I didn't want Lahar and that idiot with him to be privy to this conversation." He then motioned to himself. "My name is Anu Asim Biskaln, transformation mage and former member of the dark guild Death Head's Caucus."

Why did he tell us his full name? Names held power if a mage knew how to use it and yet this Anu just gave it to us. This guy had to be crazy. Might explain why…

My brain paused itself as Anu's name finally registered with me. He was _the_ Anu Biskaln. While only the team Trinity Raven was known to most people outside of Dark Guilds, I did remember Brain thinking about Anu Biskaln, one of the best…if not the best, assassins that Death's Head Caucus had. He was the hidden member that you didn't know about until you faced him and, if you lived through the experience, then he would be one that you would never forget.

"What made you start working with the Council?" I asked him with a sharp look. Going from a dark guild to the Council was a large jump and I wanted to know what caused that.

But, I flinched at the sharp look I got back. "I do not work with the Council." He then let out a breath, causing his heartbeat to settle slightly from what I could hear before he continued. "My apologies if events led you to assume that. I do not work with the Council. I wish to start my own guild. They are allowing me the chance to gain my first members."

It didn't take much for my mind to connect the dots and I realized what it was that this Anu wanted. "You want us to join your guild." I stated to him bluntly with a stare.

The others seemed surprised and looked at him with a studying look. Anu, on his part, didn't look trapped like I thought he would. Instead, he simply nodded. "Yes. That is quite correct Cobra…or should I say Erik?"

"Erik." I answered him bluntly. I was nervous about him now. The last guild we were in didn't turn out to help us at all and I was sure that all of us were nervous about what was going to happen.

Anu's eyes took on a calculating look before he continued. "As I'm sure you've already figured out Erik, I know about what abilities each of you has, or had in one case." Sorano. He certainly did his homework on us. But that wasn't going to help him convince us to join his guild.

"Why should we join your guild?" Richard asked Anu.

"Yeah," Sawyer jumped in…still sitting as far from Anu as he could. Guess it registered to him as to who exactly Anu was. "we would just be trading one type of jail for another. Not exactly an improvement."

In return, Anu laughed. "I understand where you are coming from Sawyer. However, that would not be the case here."

"How?" Macbeth asked him with suspicion.

"First off, Macbeth, I know that it would be different because, since I have been a part of a dark guild, I know how crappy it can be and how demanding the guild master can be. However, since I experienced that, I know that it would not serve me well to try and be controlling. The only decisions that I wish to make would be who would be S-class ranked or not and I would decide who gets to participate in the Grand Magic Games. Missions and teams would be completely your choice." Anu didn't flinch at all as we started to ask these questions.

"So, we would be a legal guild begging at the foot of the Council?" Sorano asked in annoyance. Legal guilds had this way of sucking up to the Council and none of us found that very exciting.

"Yes…we would be a legal guild." I noticed that he looked slightly worried now. What was going through his head and why couldn't I see in it? "However, I do not have a very high regard for those idiots on the Council or their ways of restriction against progressing in our magic. While I do agree that there are lines that must be drawn, I believe that the Council is full of cowards that won't take a risk to advance our knowledge. I'm not the type to suck up to power, I overcome it. That was how I managed to meet with you all in the first place and have the chance to offer you this life-line thread to freedom…true freedom."

A slight flinch came from Anu at that. I could tell that he was telling the truth about everything he said. But, there was something that he was holding back. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was affecting his pitch to us.

"Can you give us a few minutes alone to talk about it?" I suddenly found myself saying.

Anu gave me a studying look before he smiled and nodded once before standing, his black trench coat swaying behind him. "Of course. This is a big decision. I'll be on the other side of the door. Just knock on it when you want me to come back in." He then walked to the door. Once he was there, he opened it and took one last look back at us before he shut it. As he did, I saw Lahar and the rune knight standing there as well.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Sawyer asked as he finally stood up and paced the room. "I mean, can we really trust this Anu guy?"

"Yeah, we can." I interrupted Sawyer. Everyone looked at me as I moved toward the door. "I knew he was telling the truth about everything that he said the moment he said them."

"Then why did you need him to leave the room?" Richard asked me.

The others were giving me curious looks as well and I knew I had to answer. "Something was bothering Anu when he was talking about how he got the Council to give us this chance to join his guild. I'm hoping someone on the other side of the door slips on what exactly Anu had to do to get the Council to agree to this."

They all looked like they understood now. "Let us know what they are saying." Macbeth stated as he took a seat, followed by the other three.

I nodded and leaned my ear against the door. At first, I just heard a mumble of voices. But, once I focused my hearing on the three people on the other side, I could start to hear them better.

" _Anu, this isn't looking good for you."_ Lahar spoke. _"If they make even one step out of the line, the Council is going to be on you faster than you can blink._ "

"Lahar is saying that we are a risk to Anu and that if we get out of place, the Council is going to get all over Anu." I repeated to the others.

"But why?" Sorano asked. "We would have to face punishment for getting out of line…not Anu…right?"

I shrugged my shoulders before listening again. " _Lahar, I know the risk that I am taking. I would appreciate it if you could not even think about it. I don't want them to know what I had to do to get them this far…and hopefully farther."_

"There's something that Anu doesn't want us to know about how he arranged this chance for us." I whispered to them while continuing to listen.

" _You dumb mutt you are being blind about this!"_ The rune knight started. _"If those dark mages take you up on your crazy offer and step out of line, then your freedom is as good as gone!"_

My eyes widened at the implication of what the rune knight was saying. If we went into Anu's guild…and we stepped out of line at any time against the Council…then we could stay free but Anu would…

"Erik? You going to give us that play-by-play?" Sawyer snapped me out of my surprise.

I nodded. "The rune knight just hinted that Anu is taking a huge risk with us. If he is telling the truth, then if we accept Anu's offer and step out of line, then it will be Anu's freedom that will be taken away."

They all looked at me in shock as I continued to listen…

And jumped when I heard Anu snarl and slam what I was assuming was the rune mage against the wall next to the door. The thud was loud enough for the others to jump as well.

" _I don't appreciate you talking like that about me and my hopefully future guild members. Now, here is what is going to happen, you are going to keep your thoughts to yourself and avoid antagonizing me and my prospective guild members. In return, I won't tear you limb to limb."_ I heard Anu growl at the rune mage.

"Holy shit." I mumbled as I listened.

"What? What's happening?" Sorano asked me as the rest of them pressed their ears against the door.

"Anu is ripping into the rune knight about talking shit about us." I whispered as I listened.

" _Anu,_ " Lahar started. " _Put him down now. That's not going to help this any. While he could have phrased that better, I have to say that I have had the same thoughts he has. You have never trusted anyone this much before, and now you are putting everything on the line for those five. I am not insulting anyone, but it is a lot to sacrifice. Are they really worth it to you?"_

Since the others were listening now, I could focus on what was being said. I heard feet being returned to the floor before Anu finally spoke. " _Lahar, they are worth more to me then you will ever know. We can help each other grow in a way that no other guild would be able to give us. Not even Fairy Tail was able to help me in the way that they will be able to. I will also be able to show them what life is like away from all the stress and terror of a dark guild. Instead of fighting for their lives every day, they will be fighting over the best pieces of pie at dessert."_

"We all know who that is." Sawyer mumbled. That was followed by Sorano slapping him. "Yikes! Put away the claws woman! I'm sorry! Yeesh!"

I just shook my head and continued to listen to Anu. " _I realized last night that this 'sacrifice' is nothing. I am glad to give it up for them to have a chance at the same freedom that I received from the Council all those years ago."_ He then let out a sigh. " _I just hope that they give me the chance to show them how we can keep our freedom and be a legal guild."_

 **Thump!**

We all looked over at Richard, who had slipped and knocked on the door, before he said, "Sorry guys."

We all just sighed. That probably sounded like a knock to the other side. " _Well, that's my cue. Don't come in until I come out and get you."_

"Shit move!" I told the others as I bolted to the couch. The others raced to join me and Sorano was the last to sit down as the door opened and Anu walked in. Once he closed the door, he turned to us and I could see that he was studying us. He looked at us expectantly and I had a feeling that he might know that we were listening. So, I figured I would get the elephant out of the room now. "Did you mean all that stuff you just said out there?"

Anu blinked in surprise for a second before he started laughing. "You were listening to that?" Guess he didn't know we were listening. Well crap. "Guess I should have expected as much. Here I am, some bedraggled looking ex-dark mage that you just met asking you to join a guild that I just got approved to make yesterday. I should have seen that coming." He then calmed down before saying, "Yes. I meant every single word that I said out there."

"And is it true that you would take responsibility for our actions should we choose to join your guild?" Macbeth asked Anu.

A flinch came from Anu at that. "So, you heard that too. I'm going to hunt down that knight later for opening his big mouth." He then paused before nodding. "And what he said was true. I was hoping that you all wouldn't learn about that part of the deal. I wanted you to make this choice completely of your free will without having to worry about the side effects if something goes wrong. Since you all know now though, I guess I should explain the rest of what that idiot didn't spill. Not only would I take the fall if you all are a part of the guild but, if you so choose to leave my guild after joining, then I would still take responsibility for whatever actions you choose to make."

"Why?" Macbeth asked immediately. I could see that he was still suspicious of Anu's offer and, if we hadn't just heard what went on between Anu, Lahar, and the rune knight, then I would think it was too good to be true.

Anu moved his sight to Macbeth before saying, "Because I know how hard it is to return to society after making a mistake. It was a hard struggle for me to do that…and I'm still working on it. I want your transition to be easier and I want you all to realize just how precious the freedom you are asking for truly is." He then paused. "Since that's all in the air, I guess now is as good a time to ask as any; Will you five join my guild as its first guild members? I don't have a name for the guild yet, or a symbol. But, that can be something we work on together. Will you join me?"

While I wasn't sure what the others were going to say, I already knew my answer. "Sounds like the best offer I'm going to get. Better than being forced to join a guild to 'redeem' myself." Anu smirked at my answer.

"Well, you'll probably have better entertainment than this place does…so why not?" Sawyer confirmed.

"I will go with you too." Richard answered. "A chance to be good sounds wonderful."

Sorano crossed her arms and stared at Anu for a minute. "I don't have any magic right now. Is that going to be an issue?" That was right. Since she lost her ability to contract Celestial Spirits, Sorano hasn't had time to learn another magic. I didn't think about that.

However, her question didn't seem to phase Anu in the slightest as he shook his head. "No. That won't be an issue. I am sure that you will find another magic eventually…or it will find you. I've seen fate work in mysterious ways. Until that time comes, however, you can help me around the guild if you wish to. I will need help keeping up with the place."

Truly smiling for the first time since I had known her, Sorano answered him. "Then why not? I doubt I would get a better offer."

We all then looked at Midnight and I knew that he was truly thinking this thing through. Out of all of us, he had been the one who was most manipulated by Brain and he felt the guiltiest about everything we did in the past with being a part of the Oracion Seis. "When you were outside, you mentioned that you were a part of Fairy Tail. As I'm sure you know, we haven't had the best history with them and I'm not sure we are ready to confront them just yet. Would you be able to avoid talking about us to them if you talk to them until we are ready?"

That was a good point and I forgot that Anu had mentioned Fairy Tail. Looking at Anu, I could see that he was really thinking about what Macbeth was asking. Since he was a past dark guild mage like us, I had a feeling that Fairy Tail had helped him earn his freedom in a similar way that he was helping us. Asking him to give that connection up for a time was going to be hard on him. But, if Anu was telling the truth about all he was offering, then his answer was going to be obvious.

As I thought, Anu nodded. "Yes, I am willing and ready to cut ties with Fairy Tail, and every other guild, until you find yourselves ready to be public to the world. I already requested that the Council keep your release away from all press until you are ready, and I can keep myself separated from the other guilds until you are ready to be known to the world again."

Macbeth stared at Anu for a long time before he gave a slow nod. "Then I find no reason to not join your guild."

It looked like we were all going to be free now.

Anu smiled at us and nodded. "That's great. I'll just let Lahar and the rune knight back in here to let them know that their services are no longer required." He then got up and walked to the door before opening it. "You can come in now." He then walked away from the door, leaving it open. Soon, Lahar followed.

Not to my surprise, the rune knight was no-where to be found.

Lahar looked at the five of us with a wary eye before he looked at Anu. "So, what did they decide?"

Anu smirked at Lahar. "They've decided to give this mutt a chance at being their guild master." Anu was going to be a weird guild master that was for sure. He even called himself a mutt?

"So, they actually took you up on your offer." Lahar sounded a little surprised at that before he returned to a neutral face. "Very well. I am sure that Anu has informed you of the situation before you all. You are free to go. Good luck Anu." He then turned and left.

Once he was out of the doors, Anu…Master Anu motioned for us to follow him through the doors. Once we did, he led us down the halls and toward the entrance of the prison. This was it. We were finally going to be free. But…I now had another question. "Anu," I wasn't going to call him 'master' out loud yet. He still had to earn that from me. "where exactly is our guild going to be located?"

We paused as we made it outside at that question and the five of us enjoyed taking in the idea that we were finally free. Hopefully, this gig at being a guild mage would work out. I had a feeling that, if this was going to work out with anyone, it was going to be with Master Anu.

After what seemed like forever, though it was probably only a few minutes, Anu answered my question. "In the mountains just South of Old Fort. I negotiated to buy that part of the valley with the mayor in Dawn City since he technically has rights to it. I must let rune knights and others pass through there, but if any cause trouble we can take care of them. Wasn't a bad deal in all honesty. I just had to agree that, once I got my guild up and running, that we would allow Dawn City to be our patron city and have rights to sell our brand. A win for both of us in all retrospect."

While it was strange already being part of another guild, and a legal guild at that, I had a feeling that everything was going to work out this time.

* * *

 **Erik: So...now what?**

 **Anu: *stares* We will figure that out together.**

 **Sorano: *stares back knowingly* You have no idea do you?!**

 **Anu: *defensive* It's not like I have ever started a guild before! Give me a little break for getting this far without trouble!**

 **Authoress: This should be fun.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I am so so so so so so sorry that I couldn't get this up yesterday but we had relatives come this weekend for Thanksgiving and so I couldn't break away long enough to update this. So, I am doing this now when I probably really shouldn't be. I hope this was an enjoyable chapter. From the timeline, obviously, the whole clock debacle from the anime will not be happening since, if you haven't caught on by now, this is going on during the seven years that the Fairy Tail mages were stuck on Tenrou.**

 **Looks like this guild is moving forward nicely though! Five new members to join Anu and that means that this is going to be a crazy sort of time! You'll find out more about their 'guild hall' next chapter which, due to my blunder in not updating anything yesterday, I will be posting not long after this one is up. (like minutes after hopefully).**

 **Well, that's really all for now. As promised last chapter, here is the names of the next two chapters (though the first one really won't do much good since it is coming up in a few minutes)**

 **Chapter 2: Mountain of Jackals**

 **Chapter 3: The Weakness of the Siren's Song**

 **Chapter 4:...(find out next chapter, in a few minutes hopefully)**

 **So, that's all for now. Please leave a review, even to say hi, and I'll respond when I can. I really do enjoy knowing that people are reading this and, even if you don't review, I appreciate you taking the time to read this anyways. Until next time, TTYL! *listens to lecture on knights***


	3. Mountain of Jackals

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Anu: Well, it seems like you are keeping your word this time.**

 **Authoress: *shrugs* I am good at what I do...I just get distracted.**

 **Sawyer: *smirks* Yeah, like Sorano and her cake.**

 **Sorano: *hits Sawyer* That's not true Sawer!**

 **Sawyer: *yells* The claws woman! Put them away! *run away***

* * *

Chapter 2: Mountain of the Jackals

 **July 7** **th** **, X785**

 **Anu's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

Four months. It had been just over four months since the five members of my guild had accepted their positions as members of my guild. While we had some rough few first days getting used to being around one another, I was now glad to say that we all trusted each other implicitly. I still remembered that issue on the second day when Sorano had gotten turned around and ended up in the washroom. That wouldn't have been so bad except Macbeth and I were washing at the time.

I still wasn't sure how Macbeth and I were the ones to end up with knots on the head.

Anyways, it had taken the six of us about three weeks to come up with our name; Jackal Fang. I wasn't so thrilled about it at first since they were naming it after the transformation I was in when they first met me, but over these three months since, I found that it was starting to stick. We had sent in our paperwork on April 2nd, and two weeks ago, the Council finally sent us a magic stamp with the guild mark that we had drawn and sent to them. We were all eager to get our stamps and it didn't take us long to get them.

Mine was gold with a black outline right in the center of my chest. I wanted to keep my guild mark close to my heart just like I would keep all my guild members close as well. Erik had his be purple and on the left side of his chest, Sawyer had his be on the right side of his neck and was colored orange, Richard's was red on his back, Sorano's was white with a silver outline on her left hip, and Macbeth's guild mark was white with a black outline on his right shoulder.

Once we had that settled, we made the decision together to have our guild have a team-based system. For now, we had four teams, but our hope was to have at least five, to represent the five first members of our guild. If there was a need for more teams later, we would add more. But, five was the goal. For now, the five teams were unnamed but everyone but Sorano and Macbeth were on their own teams. I tried to talk Sorano into making her own team, but she was steadfast in her decision to not have a team of her own. Oh well. I guess we would just have to wait for another member before we got our fifth team.

"Master Anu," I turned as Richard walked close to me.

Smiling, I stood from the chair behind my desk. "What can I do for you, Richard?" I asked the taller mage.

He motioned toward the direction of the exit before saying, "It is our turn for patrol. Sorano and Sawyer got back about twenty minutes ago."

Of course. I got so into my thoughts trying to avoid certain…duties, that I didn't realize that it was already mine and Richard's turn for patrol. We decided that, since our guild was so small, we would take regular patrols. Not only would we be able to keep an eye out for trouble, but we could also meet people who traveled through the mountains to get to and from Dawn City. Dawn City is north of our guild and we used the city as our main source of supplies. There was a branch of the Ehrlich Magic Incorporated shops in Dawn City that had decent deals on magic and non-magic items.

Nodding, I moved away from my desk quickly. "Sounds like we had better get going then." I then led Richard out of my office and down the stairs. There were three levels inside our guild that we used daily.

The third floor was carved so there were dozens of rooms that would serve to be rooms to myself and the members of the guild. I had a system planned to make sure that my guild members would not have to struggle to live outside of the guild. When our guild members took missions, eventually, half of their earnings would go toward upkeep of the guild and for buying necessities for the guild members. So far, only the six of us stayed upstairs. But, as we gained more members, I imagined those halls would be filled with the sound of our fellow future members.

The second floor was filled with offices, spare rooms, and a medical ward. The dreaded second floor. It housed my office. The office that was full of…

…off that gruesome subject.

We finally had the main floor. It was a large open space that had seating and tables along with a bar and a stage. I wanted my guild members to be able to express themselves in the best way that they thought possible. If that meant performing, then I wanted to make sure that they had a stage to do it. If they were to drink, then I wanted them to be able to.

"Master, where do you think you are going?" Sorano asked me with a knowing look. Since she had not found a magic yet, she would help with all the fine details of running the guild. She could cook, clean, and best of all, help me with all my duties as well. It was a win situation for me.

Smiling at her innocently, I motioned to the guild doors. They were a simple oak right now, but I was hoping to maybe upgrade them before too long. If the winters got bad, then we could be looking at drafts that would freeze us…and run up the heating bill. "It's our turn for patrol." I then motioned for Richard to start making his way out. Once we were technically outside the doors, I turned back to her. "Oh Sorano, if you could there is just a bit more paperwork on my desk. If you could get through some of it that would be great."

The look I got from Sorano told me that she knew what was going on. "Don't worry master, there will be plenty for you to do when you get back."

…Phooey.

Oh well. I guess I wasn't getting out of paperwork this time. Hopefully, she would at least take a few of those papers and get them taken care of. I hated paperwork and I didn't want to come back to the same amount I left. Paperwork was one of the banes of being a legal guild and I now understood why Master Makarov used to complain about it all the time. It was a tedious process and half of the paperwork was putting down pointless information that the Council really didn't need.

But, I wanted to keep my guild legal and that meant that I had to do it. Thankfully, besides the startup paperwork that I had to do, the deadlines for most of the paperwork I received was in a year or two.

…That didn't stop Sorano from forcing me to get more of it done than I wanted to.

"Master," Richard started,

"Yes?" I prodded him as we reached the bottom of the steps from the guild. The members had been using the patrol rounds with me to talk to me about things and I appreciated their openness with me. Since it was just the six of us as members of the guild so far, these talks were mainly about issues that they had with me. There were a few and I was working to fix them. I wondered what I did now?

"We were all talking earlier and the five of us were curious as to what your plans were in recruiting new members?" Richard finished asking me.

So, that was the issue. I expected them to wonder about that, but I didn't think it would come so soon. I figured that I would have to wait at least six months to a year before the five of them were ready to have another guildmate come into our fold. Yes, we were always open to accepting mages into our fold. But, I hadn't been actively searching the nearby towns for any people with magical abilities to join our guild as mages. But, from the question that I was just asked, it seemed that I had read the situation wrong and they were ready to have more guildmates and I didn't see it.

It seemed like it was time to correct that. "My apologies Richard, and I will apologize to the others when we return to the guild. I wanted to make sure that you all were ready to have more people join the guild before I actively tried to recruit more members. I did not want to rush you all in being regulated in a regular guild life. I didn't have a choice in getting used to guild life when I was allowed to join Fairy Tail. I struggled and the rush in trying to assimilate to a regular guild was what probably caused me to leave Fairy Tail after those five years I was there. I didn't want you all to struggle as I did. However, since you are all ready for that sort of environment, then I will start searching for members for our guild."

In return, Richard smiled. "That would be most welcome. The others are ready to see what it will be like to have another member in our guild." He then paused and I sensed that he was activating his magic. What was going on? "Master, we aren't alone out here."

I knew that he wasn't talking about the animals around us so I paused and stayed tense. "What do you see?" I knew he was using his heaven's eye magic so I wouldn't have to wait long for an answer.

"It looks like a group of cloaked people are chasing someone. I see maybe six of them chasing the other person. We should go and help." Richard answered me.

Only seconds passed by before I spoke. "Let's go. I'll be in jackal form so be aware of that." He nodded and moved toward the position so I transformed and darted across the forested floor toward a clearing up ahead. From the way Richard's head was moving when he reported about the person being chased, they were running in that direction. So, it would be best for me to get their first and observe. Hopefully, the group would talk to the person that they were chasing.

Once I arrived at the edge of the clearing, I hunkered low into the shadows and waited. Thankfully, the wait wasn't long and soon, a girl with light brown hair that was in low pigtails, that reached her shoulders, arrived in the clearing. In her arms, she was carrying a light gray exceed with light blue eyes. They looked scared and I was pretty sure I knew who Richard and I were going to be helping.

A blast landing in front of the girl caused her to stop, and myself to tense more, and a group of mages ran into the clearing and surrounded the girl. She looked worried and I noticed that the grip that she had on her exceed was growing tighter and tighter. I had to wait for the right moment until I interfered. It would be best to take in as much of the situation as I could before jumping in. So, I stayed in a crouch, ready to leap into the girl's and her exceed's defense.

"Come on girlie. If you quit yer runnin', we'll make sure to take real good care of ya." A brown-haired man said to the girl.

She looked at the mages around her before shaking her head. "Why can't you just leave us alone?" She yelled that at them and I could see that she was angry.

The mage that looked like the leader of this group let out a chuckle before he said, "Come now, you know better than most that we can't do that, you little monster." A low growl escaped my throat and my ears flattened against my head at that. Where did he come off calling that girl a monster?

"Yeah," A red-haired mage on the other side of the leader started. "you're a monster and you fetch a really high price on the markets…bonus jewel for the little cat thing there in your arms."

That got a negative reaction out of the girl as she growled and narrowed her eyes at the red-haired man. "You'll have to go over my cold corpse before you touch Pitch."

"Since you are just as valuable dead, I think we can arrange that." The leader smirked. Okay, I had heard enough. This girl needed support and I wanted to make sure that she knew that she had it.

With a snarl, I pounced and jumped over the circle of mages before taking a protective stance in front of the girl and her exceed, letting a low growl come out of my throat. The red-haired mage from before laughed at my entrance, which ruffled my fur a bit, before he spoke. "Aw, did the monster get another one to come and help her. What a waste. We have a mage with us that can take out familiars simply."

Before the girl could make a comment, I started to let out a chuckled…which seemed to scare them since I was still in my jackal form, before I morphed back into myself. Once I was standing upright, I turned my head to the girl and gave her a comforting smile. "Don't worry, we are here to help you."

She seemed slightly hesitant before she nodded once. With the confirmation, I turned back to the mages as their leader, who seemed nervous, began to speak. "Who the hell are you? This is our business and you are just going to get yourself hurt. My suggestion is to turn back into that mutt form of yours and get out of here." Well, that man seemed to have some nerve calling me a mutt.

In return to his ridiculous request, I placed my hands on my sides and shook my head before staring at the man. "Unfortunately for you, rodent, you have made this my business. This land, which you so happen to be on, belongs to my guild and so whatever happens on our soil is most certainly my business." I then narrowed my eyes at him. "And I am not a mutt. The correct term of that form is a jackal, and I suggest you remember it."

The leader held my glare for a few seconds before he started to laugh. "Oh, that is rich. Even if what you say is true, you are severely outnumbered. You and the girl have no hope of taking out our numbers. And just what guild are you a part of so I can laugh at it later?"

My eyebrow twitched at his blatant disrespect of our guild. How dare he disrespect our guild! "Please…" I turned my gaze, calmed down of course, to the girl, as she tugged at my sleeve and spoke. "I don't want you to get hurt for us. I can keep them distracted while you get away."

I gave her a soft smile before I shook my head. "Don't worry. Just trust us and I know we will get out of this alright and on top."

"But," She started.

However, I needed to keep this moving and I was sure that Richard was waiting for a sign from me for him to make his entrance. I had a feeling that he alone would make these mages think twice. About doing anything. So, I interrupted her by talking to the leader. "You will do no such thing against my guild. We are Jackal Fang and, while we are a relatively new guild, I assure you that our name will be spread and we will be known as one of the strongest guilds since Fairy Tail was on top." I then slipped a smirk. "Oh, but I'm afraid that I forgot to introduce us. My name is Anu Biskaln, guild master of the Jackal Fang guild." I showed them my guild mark after I finished speaking. While the leader, or the two that had spoken so far, hadn't shown any reaction to my name, I noticed a handful of the mages surrounding the girl and me were nervous…as they should be, when it came out of my mouth.

However, all the mages jumped when the Earth behind me lifted and the mages that were standing there were thrown around and knocked unconscious. Not much stamina to them. The rest of the conscious mages gathered around their leader as Richard walked up to stand next to me, and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Eden was following his movements. Once he stopped next to me, he spoke. "I am Richard, a member of team Heavenly Terra, a team of the Jackal Fang guild."

His introduction caused a reaction with everyone in front of us and the leader seemed afraid as he pointed to Richard. "You…your Hoteye from the Oracion Seis!"

Richard shook his head at that. "The Oracion Seis is no more. I am a member of the Jackal Fang guild. We do not approve of your actions on our land and we request that you leave here. We do not want to hurt you but we will if you do not listen."

Instead of listening to what we had to say and getting off our land, the leader gave of a smirk before saying, "Say, we only came here after the monster and her pet, but can you imagine the reward we would get for taking down one of the past members of one of the greatest dark guilds to ever exist?" Those simple words seem to encourage the conscious members of the group and then nodded before the remaining eight mages leaped at us.

 **Richard's 1** **st** **P.O.V.**

"Well, at least patrol wasn't without some excitement today." I commented as I finished off tying up the group of mages. The fighting between our groups didn't go in their favor and Master had just finished calling the Rune Knights at Old Fort to come to pick up these rogues. It was a system that we had set up with the knights when we had first started to set up the guild with Master Anu, though this was the first time that we were using it. I attached the beacon to the bound mages before I stood and looked at the girl, who was talking to the exceed in her arms. She had been quiet after we had fought the mages and I knew that Master was going to want to talk to her.

"Alright, the rune knights are on their way." Anu spoke before he motioned in the direction of our guild. "I know that you do not know us well but it might be more comfortable for you to walk with us while you answer our questions. Is that alright?"

The girl looked nervous at first but then her exceed spoke. "They seem nice. Let's go with them." He spoke in a whisper to her but we heard him well enough.

With a nod, the girl moved on and walked in-between Anu and me as we moved toward the guild's location. "I guess we should start with introductions," Anu started with a motion to himself.

But, the girl laughed and interrupted him. "I'm not deaf Master Biskaln. I heard both of your introductions to those creeps earlier." She then motioned to herself. "But, you guys don't know who we are. I am Eden Flint and this is my exceed Pitch."

"It is nice to meet both of you." I responded to her introduction of both. They seemed like nice beings and it made me wonder why the mages we left for the rune knights were after them.

"It is nice to meet you both as well." Master Anu responded as well. We all talked about small topics as we walked toward the guild as he continued. "Eden, do you mind if I ask you why you were being chased by those mages when we found you? They called you a monster and, while from what I have seen that does not seem to be the case, I would like to understand why they would call you such a thing."

This Eden seemed hesitant in her speech at first and even stopped...causing us to stop before she continued. "I...I'm a mage who was taught a very rare magic...by a very close family member." She then squeezed her exceed closer to herself.

"When I was in my jackal form, back in the clearing with the mages who had been chasing you, I smelled an animalistic smell from you. But, I had not wanted to jump to any conclusions about you. But, with you having an exceed...there was one conclusion that I could make quite readily. Eden, are you a dragon slayer? Add that to you having Pitch, an exceed, which dragon slayers are known to have and it was a safe assumption. I was just waiting for you to open a bit." Master asked her.

Eden looked at us suspiciously but her exceed, Pitch, seemed to trust us and nodded. "Yes, sir. Eden is an earth dragon slayer."

The now known earth dragon slayer stared at her exceed in shock. "Pitch! Why are you telling these guys that? We don't know them."

To her, Pitch shook his head. "But they are nice Eden. Plus, we can trust them." He then looked back to us. "Eden was taught by an old dragon named Geb. He died a few years back and we've been on the road looking for a couple friends of ours. Another dragon slayer and exceed pair."

"But, we don't want to say too much about them." Eden interrupted. Even though she looked like she had given up on keeping information about herself from us, she seemed nervous when Pitch started to talk about their dragon slayer friend and their exceed. "We haven't seen either of them in a few years since right before Geb died, and last we heard they were attacked and that attacked killed their dragon, Setophis. But, we don't want to put them in danger."

"That is understandable." I added with a nod. "You would want to protect your friend and make sure that they were kept safe until you found them."

We had continued moving a few minutes ago and Eden seemed to relax more since I said that. And I meant what I said. We wouldn't want to endanger this friend of Eden's. She seemed like a nice girl and…

"Eden," She turned to Anu with a curious look before he continued. "I know that you have just met us, but as I am sure you heard earlier, I am the guild master of a new guild. As of now, there are five members, six if you include me. You don't have to agree, but I was wondering if you would possibly join our guild?"

 **Master Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

Eden took a glance at me as we continued to walk toward the guild, which was near the pass to continue on to Old Fort and eventually, Dawn City. I could see that she was torn about something. Eden took a second and glanced down at Pitch, who looked up at her and shrugged. Once he did, Eden let out a sigh. "I'm not sure. You said that there were four members besides Richard. Can I meet the others first?"

I smiled and nodded, but it was Richard who answered. "Of course. I'm sure the others would like to meet you." Well, glad we were in agreement. He then stopped and I realized that we were back at the base of the mountain that held our base. "The doors to our base are up there."

Instead of looking nervous like I thought, however, Eden looked more relaxed. "Caves. I can deal with those." That's right. Being an earth dragon slayer, Eden would have an advantage just in case we weren't on the up and up. I knew we were on the up, but this would make her feel better.

I nodded and led the way up the stairs that were cut out of the mountain. The climb seemed longer, now that Richard and I were bringing a new person into our fold...maybe. It all depended on her and if she accepted being in our guild. It would not be a choice that we would force on her, but we would be honored to have her.

Once we arrived at the doors, I motioned toward them before saying, "Eden Flint and Pitch; welcome to the Jackal Fang guild hall." I then pushed open the doors.

"Damn it Erik give me back my notebook! I need it to keep track of the guild's expenses!" Sorano yelled at Erik as was standing on a table keeping said notebook away from Sorano. Macbeth was behind the counter making himself a drink since Sorano was obviously preoccupied with Erik, and Sawyer was laughing at the two who were fighting over the notebook while eating something that Sorano must have prepared for him earlier...by the looks of it, he was eating chicken alfredo.

Well, at least she could tell we didn't somehow call ahead.

Richard let out a few chuckles as I let out a sigh. I swear, I was almost afraid to get new members if this was all four out of five could do. Imagine having twenty or thirty of them. This base might not last a week. But, I guess if we ever got that many mages in our guild it would be worth it.

Before I could say anything, Eden let out a laugh that caused the other four in the room to look toward us three and they were staring at us in confusion. I turned to Eden, as did Richard, as Eden continued to laugh for a few more seconds before finally explaining herself. "Sorry...I just didn't expect this when coming in here."

I looked at her confused and, thankfully, I wasn't the only one confused about this. "Eden, what do you mean?" Richard asked our hopefully soon-to-be new guild member.

Finally, Eden calmed down and put Pitch on her shoulder before saying, "I have a confession to make Anu. Once you introduced Richard here and said you had four other members of your guild besides the two of you, I had a feeling that the other members were past members of the Oracion Seis." The five mentioned members of my guild flinched slightly as Eden said that before she continued. "But, I don't let the pasts of others define who they are. Trust me, if I did that, I would have never trusted Geb to teach me."

"Who is Geb?" Macbeth asked Eden.

She smiled and said, "He was my dragon. I'm the earth dragon slayer. Geb wasn't a dragon to hold back and he told me about everything he did in his past that I might hear about and it was enough to give even you all chills. So, when Anu and Richard both let it know that I was wanted as a member of your guild, I wanted to give you all a chance. I knew that you all weren't as bad as you once were, given how Master Anu and Richard helped me out. But, I wanted to see how you all really acted here in the guild." She then smiled widely and turned back to me. "Master Anu, I think we have made our decision."

I had a feeling I knew what the decision would be but raised an eyebrow anyways. "Oh? And what is that Eden?"

She then stood in front of us, with Pitch flying into the air before she spoke. "Master Anu, it would be mine and Pitch's privilege to join Jackal Fang."

Smiling back, I responded. "Well then, Eden Flint and Pitch, as the guild master of this guild, allow me to officially welcome you as members of Jackal Fang."

* * *

 **Eden: *smiles* This guild looks like it is going to be so much fun!**

 **Anu: *nods* I am glad that you think so. Hopefully, Jackal Fang will continue to grow this nicely.**

 **Sorano: *yells* Anu! Get your ass in here and get this paperwork done!**

 **Anu: *yelps* Got to go! *runs with Sorano chasing him***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! While this isn't long after the last chapter, I have a little bit more to talk about! Another OCs for the guild and she is a dragon slayer! Now, with Eden, her dragon was one of the rebellious ones and didn't leave Earthland when told to and instead stayed in hiding, picking up Eden along the way and training her. So, Eden had full training with her dragon before he died (and he was really old when he kicked the dust). Pitch is her exceed and he is a quieter exceed for the most part. But, he can be pretty curious if something gets him curious. Also, about Geb, he really wasn't a good dragon for most of his life and so those stories he told Eden were pretty brutal. Since she grew up with these stories, the fact that she was around the past Seis doesn't really bother her.**

 **Well, that's all for now. So, here are the names of the next two chapters.**

 **Chapter 3: The Weakness of the Siren's Song**

 **Chapter 4: Death**

 **Chapter 5: ...(find out next time!)**

 **Okay, so here is everything, leave a review if you wish, even to say hi! Until next time, TTYL! *surprised that the word for dungeon comes from a word meaning tower, not hole!***


	4. The Weakness of the Siren's Song

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Anu: Well, it looks like you have finally returned.**

 **Authoress: I had finals. Couldn't update between studying and worrying and taking them.**

 **Erik: *studies* Well, she isn't lying...but she has had time to post since then.**

 **Authoress: *pauses*...*runs***

* * *

Chapter 3: The Weakness of the Siren's Song

 **August 30** **th** **, X785**

 **Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

I smiled as I walked down the streets of Dawn City. It had been almost two months since Eden and Pitch had joined our guild and I felt like everything was moving in the right direction. Even though missions were still in short supply from the Council...since most people wouldn't give missions to a guild where they didn't have access to the roster list, we were still keeping afloat thanks to contacts that I made during my time before creating Jackal Fang. Taking jobs that were posted outside of the purview of the Council was not illegal. However, they were highly discouraged since the senders of the jobs were not background checked.

However, I only allowed my guild members to take those kinds of jobs from the outside sources that I knew very well. Some came from ex-dark guild mages who needed help but couldn't get a request sent through the Council. Others were sent from people who had gone against the Council, or some rich family in Fiore who had sway with the Council, to reject official requests to go through.

I had just had one last week from an old friend of mine, who was named Bella Don, to take down some thieves that were pestering the town of Gummy. Yes, the name of the town was actually Gummy. While Bella Don herself didn't live near there, a friend of hers had contacted her saying that they couldn't get an official request through because this friend, who was the mayor of the town, had rubbed Gran Doma the wrong way so the request wasn't passing the Council. So, since she heard that I had started a guild, Bella Don had forwarded the request to me in hopes that my guild would take it on.

Eden, Pitch, and Sawyer had readily taken the request. They were actually due back at the guild tonight. I would have to call and make sure that everything went smoothly with that.

Speaking of Eden, I was glad when she had agreed to become the temporary leader of the fifth team for the guild. While she refused to name the team yet, since she wanted more members on the team...including the leader, I was just glad that she agreed to form it. Five was a reasonable number of teams for now and I hoped that,

I flinched as I accidentally bumped into a girl with long blue hair. "Sorry about that miss."

The girl turned to me and I saw a slight look of worry in her pink eyes. "It...it's alright."

Before I could ask this girl what was wrong, however, the girl quickly continued on her way and, before I could gather my wits and figure out what was wrong with the girl, she was gone. She seemed upset by something but it would be strange if I just ran after her and tried to figure it out from her now. She didn't know me and it would be strange for a man who looked bedraggled, like I did, to press any sort of information out of her.

But, I didn't like knowing that someone was unhappy and I hadn't tried to fix it. I needed more information on this blue-haired girl. But, while I had many sources of information, not many would be able to tell me about this girl. A person, or being, would have to know Dawn City extremely intimately to have that sort of information about a person who even I could only give a small description on.

Thankfully, however, as I moved toward the Lethal Shield Tavern, I knew that I did have one contact who would be able to help me find this information out. While officially the mayor of Dawn City was in charge of the running of the city, it was known to everyone in the city that nothing was done without the knowledge of the organization known as Equinox. Equinox was not a criminal organization, but they didn't exactly play by the rules that the Council of Era or the royal family of Fiore set up. A good way to describe Equinox would be to say that they were professional mediators. They gathered all the information that they could and they used that information to make sure that things were being run fairly and justly.

Of course, given how the Council could work at times, that didn't exactly go over well with them and so Equinox and the Council were normally at odds with each other. Thankfully, I could count the leader of Equinox as a friend of mine and, if anyone near Dawn City had the information that I needed, it would be him. Thankfully, the headquarters of Equinox was here in Dawn City so I could visit them tomorrow morning since it was already getting late.

I allowed those thoughts to move to the back of my head as I entered the Lethal Shield. Behind the bar, I smiled and nodded toward Elgor Trannyth, who was the barkeeper and innkeeper of the Lethal Shield.

When I had first looked into the area around Dawn City as a base for my guild, I had come to the Lethal Shield to rest and find out some information. The other hotels in the city had been full due to a geological conference going on in the city at the time and so the Lethal Shield had been my only hope. I had gotten my room from Elgor and had gotten a drink when a rather annoying guard named Vicron Marcos came up to the bar and tried to pick a fight with me. Before I could do anything, Elgor had shown why many locals, as I found out later, called him Elgor the Swift. Elgor punched the guard to the floor and put him in a daze while coming around to the other side, wiping his hand on the rag hanging from his pants.

Vicron had threatened to ruin Elgor, since Vicron was of nobility, but Elgor had just laughed and said that Vicron wasn't the first idiot who threatened that and he wouldn't be the last. Then, Elgor had kicked Vicron out of his bar without any hesitation...literally.

"Anu, it's been some time since I saw you in town." The lavender haired, orange-eyed barkeeper greeted me as I walked up to him.

"Sorry about that Elgor. Been keeping myself busy as of late." I responded to him with a little sigh.

He, in turn, poured me a whiskey and I put the necessary jewel in front of me before he spoke. "Getting that guild of yours together...right?" I nodded. "So, how's that actually going for you?"

I took a sip of my whiskey. "It's going better than I could have hoped. We became official back in April and, as of now, there are six members."

"Six?" He repeated with surprise. "I'm guessing your first five were the ones you wanted from the start, but you already added another member?"

"Yep. She joined almost two months ago. Will be two months on September seventh. Her name is Eden and she's been a real asset to the guild." I then took another drink. "However, I am now on the constant lookout for more members."

Elgor nodded. "Glad for you Anu. It seems like you are getting closer to having that large guild that you wanted." He then poured some more whiskey into my glass as I finished the first, and I put the necessary jewel on the counter before he continued. "Just to let you know, Equinox has been on edge lately."

"What do you mean?" I was now paying very close attention. Elgor was also a friend of the leader of Equinox and, since he lived and worked in town, he would have better access to this kind of information that I needed. That was especially since I planned on going to Equinox tomorrow.

In return, Elgor leaned closer to me so he wouldn't have to talk as loudly. "It's Crypt Veil. They've gotten some new members lately and those new members don't understand the understanding that has been settled between Crypt and Equinox. Just make sure to watch yourself while you are in town." I gave him a look at that to which he responded. "I know you can watch yourself Anu. Just try to not make the tension any worse. Our friend told me to be careful about who I toss around for the time being since Crypt Veil's people know that we both know the leader of Equinox."

That made more sense. So, I shot down the rest of my drink and put down money for one night stay before saying, "Sounds like a plan. I just need one night Elgor. As much as I would like to stay up and talk some more, I have to call my guild and let them know my plans and let them know that I'm not going to be back when I said. I'll see you tomorrow my friend."

Elgor handed me the key to my normal room, which was the suite that faced the main street before he nodded. "Very well Anu. I'll see you tomorrow."

I hopped down from the stool I was sitting at and made my way up to my room. Once I was there, I prepared myself for bed and, once I was sitting on my bed, I took out my communication lacrima and connected with the one at the guild. It took a few pulses before Macbeth picked up on the other side. "Master Anu, I am going to assume that you will not be joining us tonight?"

Nodding, I answered him. "Correct Macbeth. I was held up in town longer than I thought today. Have Eden, Pitch, and Sawyer arrived back at the guild?"

There was a crash in the background before Macbeth sighed. "Yes, I believe that they just riled Erik up and he is now chasing the three of them."

"I'm glad that they returned safely," I responded to that. "However, Macbeth, I do wish to inform you that I have some things to check up on here in town tomorrow and I am now looking at a later time to arrive at the guild. Maybe by dinner depending on how long this takes."

Instead of Macbeth responding to that, however, the lacrima view on his side moved for a second until it was focused on Sorano. "Master, you better not be trying to get out of that paperwork that is starting to pile on your desk. I don't care how long you take there in Dawn City, most of it will be waiting for you when you get back."

Well, I hadn't been thinking of that yet but I guess there was no point in trying now. "Alright, Sorano. No, I guess there is some tension between Equinox and Crypt Veil and, as the representative guild for Dawn City, I would like to see if there is anything I can do to help. Plus, there are some other bits of information that I would like to run down that might take a little time. I'll be ready for paperwork when I get back." I promised her. I really hated paperwork.

She gave me a hard look at my rather unenthusiastic response. "You better. We'll keep the guild in one piece until you get back Anu." She then seemed to hand the lacrima to Macbeth before walking off.

Macbeth, in turn, shook his head before returning his focus to the lacrima. "Master, we will expect a better explanation about what is going on when you return."

"Of course. Goodnight Macbeth, and tell the others I said goodnight to them as well." I responded to Macbeth before ending the call. After the lacrima went dark, I put it away in the drawer in the nightstand next to my bed before I turned off the lights and laid my head against the pillow. So much to accomplish tomorrow and so little time in a day.

 **August 31** **st** **, X785**

 **Paralex's 1st P.O.V.**

I hummed to myself as I sat in my receiving room. On the table next to me, a cup of white tea steaming. Instead of drinking the substance, however, I found myself thinking. Over sixty years I had been alive, yet I looked to be only in my late twenties to early thirties. Of course, being half human and half demonic helps with that.

Yes, my father had been a simple farmer; hardworking and never taking what didn't belong to him or what he didn't work for. My mother, however, was an empusa demon. She came upon my father during a harsh time and he made a deal with her. If she would produce a child with him, then she could feast upon him. Seems like a grotesque sort of arrangement but both my mother and my father knew that he was dying from a death curse that had no cure for humans. So, my mother agreed to the deal and, after she gave birth to me, she devoured my father. When I was old enough to understand this, she told me and I understood.

From how my mother described my father, and how his relatives did, he was a man who did not like waste and, for a creature like my mother to need food and since he was dying, it seemed wasteful to deny her a meal.

While I thankfully did not pick up on my mother's dietary necessity, I did discover that I craved for another thing; knowledge. I wished to know all that I could about everything that I discovered. That was what caused me to start my organization; Equinox. I had learned about law and order, in its truest sense, and found that the governing bodies around me did not follow law and order as they should. So, I created my organization to be a truly neutral party that could judge events fairly.

Of course, my organization was used for more than just law and order. Information was a currency that we worked in greatly and I found much pleasure in spreading that information to those that had earned my favor.

However, no matter how influential my organization would become, I would always wonder when I would finally die. I could sense my own mortality but I was unsure as to when I would perish naturally. It was one of the great mysteries in my life that I cherished.

"Paralex, sir," I turned as one of my subordinates...Brett Lawson, spoke as he entered the room with a panicked look on his face.

With the troubles we had been having with Crypt Veil lately, I was slightly worried as well. "What is it?" I questioned him.

It did not take long for Brett to speak. "Sir, a black dog was spotted in the building earlier and we haven't been able to find it."

I felt relief when Brett reported that and simply waved him off while saying, "No need to worry about the dog, Brett. I find that most dogs, especially mutts, pop up eventually. That is especially if they are hungry."

Brett looked confused at my casual tone at this but nodded. "Yes, sir." He then backed out of the room and shut the door.

Once the latch of the door clicked into place, I picked up my cup of tea and took a light sip before leaning my head back against my chair. After the taste of the tea started to travel down my throat, I glanced toward the shadows of the room. "Alright, you can come out now my friend."

It wasn't long until a black dog...a jackal to be more precise, walked out from the shadows and approached my chair. Once he was in front of it, the jackal started to morph until a man with familiar golden animalistic eyes stood in front of me. "You are one to talk about mutts Paralex. However, it is good to see you." Anu Biskaln greeted me in a somewhat normal fashion.

Though it had been some months since I had seen the transformation mage, I felt like it had only been yesterday. "Anu, my friend, it is good to see you. How has your guild been doing?"

The man smiled back at me with a knowing look. "We are growing slowly but surely. As of now, we have six members...plus one exceed, not including myself." He then paused and smirked. "Though, I guess now is a good time to thank you for allowing me to buy the property rights to the valley."

What? When I heard that my friend was looking to start a guild around my home territory, I had to be involved and make sure that he got what he needed. Of course, I was slightly surprised that Anu had been able to make the connection between me and his being able to by the land that his guild was on. I had gone through quite a few proxies to keep some separation between Anu and myself on this. But, I guess the old dog still had some good tricks.

So, I smirked back at him and took another sip of my tea. "You are welcome Anu. But, a thank you is really not necessary. Your guild will be beneficial to me in the future so the investment that I have made in your 'Jackal Fang' will be quite worth the cost." I then paused as a question about why Anu was here today suddenly came to my mind. "Of course, I am curious about something Anu."

He looked surprised at that. "Really? I hope I can help you."

I nodded. "Quite. I am curious about why you have come sneaking into my residence today? I must admit that the timing has me very curious."

Anu looked like he didn't care like he was caught. "I wish to find out a couple pieces of information and I knew that you would be my best source for answers."

Well, this was interesting. Anu usually didn't go to me directly when he had a question. He enjoyed the thrill of the hunt too much, normally, to do so. Something big must be going down for him to ask about this. "I will try to help the best was that I can my friend."

He nodded. "Thank you. The first thing I wish to know is what is causing the tension between Equinox and Crypt Veil?"

"I am assuming that you have talked to Elgor." I commented to him, which he nodded at before I continued. "For the past two weeks, the new members of Crypt Veil have been starting to upset the local shop owners and citizens as well as visitors to Dawn City. I wish for Dawn City to be a welcoming place to all who come, and for those who work and live here, and having this cause of trouble will not help that. I have been unable to reach their leader due to him having been out of town until early this morning. However, before I called him I received an unexpected visitor."

"I see." Anu simply commented before seeming to go into thought.

However, I couldn't allow my friend to go too deep into thought. "Anu, I believe that you said there was a second bit of information that you wished to garner from me."

Even after that Anu seemed to take slightly longer than normal before he responded. "Yes, there was. My apologies for the delay Paralex. I have had much on my mind lately."

"I will have to visit your guild sometime soon so you and I can talk about your thoughts more in-depth." I propositioned.

He smiled at that. "Yes, I couldn't agree more." He then got down to his second point that he wished to ask me about. "Paralex, what can you tell me about a rather tall, young girl with long blue hair and pink eyes?"

Ah, so he was interested in knowing more about her. Very interesting indeed.

 **Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

"Now that is a very interesting subject, my friend." Paralex responded to my question with a knowing look.

Thank everything that Paralex seemed to know about who I was talking about. Of course, how many tall girls with long blue hair and pink eyes could be in this city?

...On second thought, I might not want the answer to that.

But, responding to Paralex's response. "So, you know her?"

Instead of answering in the positive, like I thought he would, Paralex shook his head at that. "I do not know her personally. I have not even been introduced to her. But, I do know much about her and her situation." He then took a sip of his tea before motioning me to sit. I turned and, not to my surprise, a chair was pulling itself up to me. Paralex dabbled in some magic, telekinetic magic, and moving a chair was something simple he could do. But, to the best of my knowledge, he didn't practice his magic much.

Once I sat down, I looked to my friend. "Any information you can give me on the girl will be most appreciated Paralex."

He nodded once before starting. "The girl's name is Melody Sirenaid and she comes from a very old family with very deep blood ties. These blood ties, however, are a part of the reason that she looked upset to you. Long ago, in her family's bloodline, there was a blood tie with the mythical beings known as sirens. While most would think that the sirenic blood would have been diluted in the family line as each generation moved further away from the original sirenic heritage, that is not the case with siren DNA. Siren genes are very dominant in a bloodline and even the one time shows extreme consequences."

"What does that have to do with Melody?" I guided my friend to the path I needed him to be on. He could go on extreme tangents if I didn't control the conversation.

And he knew that.

Paralex sighed slightly at that. "Unfortunately for Melody, she got hit twice with the gene. The two humans who conceived her did not realize that both lines had sirenic ancestry in them until after Melody was born. Before that revelation, however, the tradition in the family was to give away their first child because the first child is the ones that are supposed to be most affected by the sirenic ties. After that, the other children would only show minor abilities from the sirenic ties."

"But things changed with Melody having been conceived from two bloodlines?" I questioned him, though I really didn't have a question about what his answer was going to be.

"Yes." Exactly what I thought the answer would be. "Not only did the two adult humans never conceive again, for fear about what they would create, but they were desperate to get rid of their young daughter. In my view, it was almost a blessing to the child to be placed in permanent indentured servitude to Crypt Veil. Dark guilds, if they knew the ancestry behind Melody, could use the child for any number of unspeakable deeds."

"However, a life of indentured servitude is not one that a person can enjoy forever." I added onto the end of that.

Paralex nodded. "Yes, and I have tried to buy the contract binding Ms. Sirenaid to Crypt Veil for quite some time. But, there is only so much that I can do and so much time I have at my disposal while helping the rest of the city." Paralex then paused before he gave me, what looked like, a very curious look. "But Anu, why do you wish to know about Melody?"

I wasn't going to delay in answering my friend and so I let a smirk come to my face before I spoke. "Simply? I plan on relieving her caretakers of her."

Paralex's smirk matched my own before he leaned back in his chair and gave me a studying look. "Well, this is quite an interesting development. Very well. If you are so determined to go to Crypt Veil, then please act as my mediator and see if you can't convince their leader to restrain his newer members from messing with Dawn City and the area around it."

I turned from him and nodded before saying, "Well, I do owe you one for the information you just gave me." I then went to pull on my magic to transform. However, before I did, I looked over my shoulder and made eye contact with Paralex. "Thanks for that by the way." I then transformed into my jackal form and jumped out an open window before running down the street.

Following the scent trail that I was faintly getting from the girl from earlier, I made my way to the west side of town and, soon, I found myself in front of a building that looked like a fortress. I couldn't see any windows to gain access to the inside and I doubted that there would be any doors open. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long to figure out a way in as a couple of younger men came out of the front doors. From the smell that was coming off of them, they may have had a bit too much to drink.

"Hey...look at that dog. Looks like some kind of wolf." One of them said.

Wolf? That was almost insulting. I was a jackal thank you very much! Instead of reacting to that, however, I instead darted around the two and rushed through the doors. I could hear the shouts of confusion coming from the two and, from the sound of unstable but fast footsteps behind me, they were trying to catch me. Ha!

In no time, I followed Melody's scent until I came to a set of large open doors. While there were people in front of them, it was easy for me to jump over the people in this jackal form and, once I cleared them, I transformed back into my normal self and stood in front of the leader of Crypt Veil, Nero Justinian. He gave me a strange look, one that I really couldn't identify, before the six foot two man stood in front of his chair. Next to him, I noticed Melody Sirenaid was standing there with a surprised look on her face. "And what can we do for you today?" I could tell by the tone in his voice that he wasn't happy that I had barged in like this.

So, I figured I had better get some balance back into this situation. "My apologies for the abrupt and unannounced entrance. I was not sure how to gain an audience with you correctly and I am afraid that my time is rather limited today. May I please ask for some of your time?"

A discerning look spread across Nero's face before his face returned to neutral as he nodded. "Of course, I believe Crypt Veil may have to inform our contacts on the correct procedure to contact us." He then sat back down. "Now, what brings you to our humble headquarters?"

Straight to business. Figuring that it would work better in my favor to start with the business issue that Paralex asked me to take care of, I started to speak. "There are two things that I wish to discuss with you today. The first is by request of Paralex, the leader of Equinox. He has received reports of some of the newer members of Crypt Veil causing trouble for people who live in and visit Dawn City. He wishes to know if these new members have forgotten the agreement between Equinox and Crypt Veil."

I had to admit that Nero was very well taught in keeping his thoughts off his expression and so he nodded. However, the answer that came out of his mouth was not the one that I was expecting. "I see. Well, I am not sure whether this information is accurate or not. I may have the answer for you depending on your second inquiry for Crypt Veil."

Clever man. He didn't want to give out any information until he knew about all the reasons that I was here. Well, better give the man what he wants. "This second topic is a personal one." I then moved my arm until I was pointing in Melody's direction. "I have come today to acquire ownership of any and all contracts binding Melody Sirenaid to Crypt Veil."

Reactions around the room told me that I definitely ruffled a few feathers with that statement. Oh well. He did want to know the answer. I didn't tell him that everyone was going to like it. A glance at Nero told me that he seemed to be debating my statement in his head. I could almost feel as his eyes studied me thoroughly. However, I didn't continue to watch as I took a quick glance to see Melody's reaction.

The long blue haired girl looked shocked at my sudden statement and I could see the confusion in her eyes. Couldn't blame the girl, really. I doubted that she heard that kind of sentence every day and, with the history of her past that I had from Paralex, the notion that someone even wanted her might be throwing her for a trip.

"I don't understand why you would wish for her. Melody is well taken care of here and her safety is guaranteed. Her own family cast her aside, practically threw her at us and wished to never have any contact with her again. If her own flesh and blood did not wish for her, then why would a complete stranger wish for her?" Nero questioned me back.

Oh, he was good. However, I knew almost immediately how to answer. "Firstly, I must correct you. The people who gave Melody to you were obviously not her family." I heard some snickers from those around me but I continued. "Flesh and blood do not decide family. A family is made up of those who you are extremely close with and who you can lean on during the good and hard times. A family does not give up on each other because they are a little different. Secondly, I have no doubt that you treat her well and that she is safe with you. However, she is a human and a change in her surroundings might be beneficial for her."

For a brief second, I thought I saw amazement flash in front of Nero's eyes. However, the second was too brief so I couldn't be sure. "I see." Nero then seemed to contemplate on something before saying, "You interest me. How about we make this interesting? Since you did not offer me money for Melody, though I do not doubt you would pay it if I offered this to be resolved so, I will give you the chance to have Ms. Sirenaid's contracts moved over to you. But, this will not be easy."

I nodded in response. "Of course. What must I do to gain ownership of the contracts?"

A brief smirk appeared on Nero's face before he continued. "One of my newer members is quite adept at transformation magic, as it seems you are able to use the magic as well. So, you are to fight my mage and, if you are victorious, then Crypt Veil will relinquish the contracts binding Melody Sirenaid to us."

The young woman in question still looked surprised as I let a small smirk quickly slip on my own face as I nodded. "Very well. This may prove to be quite fun."

A pompous laugh coming from my right caused my eyes to flicker as a young boy stepped in front of me and, after a quick bow toward Nero, turned toward me with a cocky expression on his face. "I have to fight this old fossil? I'll try not to break you too bad old man."

Old? I wasn't even forty yet. There was no way that I was going to let this young brat get away with calling me old. "I hope you can put your fighting were your mouth is." I shot back to the boy as I got myself tense.

The boy smirked like I was bluffing before speaking. "Beauty before age."

"So that's me in both situations? Not much choice for you." I taunted him back.

In turn, the boy snarled before he turned into a tiger. A fierce roar came from him as he launched at me. In turn, I dodged him before turning myself into a lion and roaring my own challenge. Just because I was a master at specifically canine transformations didn't mean that I couldn't hold my own even in a cat fight.

The two of us clashed and, while the boy tiger was able to land a few light hits on me, I was able to deal a large amount of damage. This, in turn, caused the boy to change into a hippogriff and strike out at me. I flinched as the hoof made contact with my side. That hurt more than I thought that it would. However, two could play the mythical creature game. Dodging one of the boy's strikes, I changed into a griffon and used my lion paw to rake against the boy's wings. He didn't take kindly to that and was able to land another hoof against my other side. While I had seen many openings that I could use to kill the boy, that wasn't how I lived anymore and avoiding those openings was what was causing me to get injured.

I stole a quick glance at Nero and Melody and, while Nero looked intrigued at the fight between the two of us, Melody looked torn and upset. Why did she look like that? "Please, stop this. I'm not worth all of this pain."

Shoving the boy back for a second, I turned into my human form for a moment and addressed her. "Please Ms. Melody, don't take away my fun. I haven't had this thrilling of training in quite some time. Of course, I haven't faced a fellow transformation mage for many years." She looked shocked at my response but nodded.

Turning back to the boy, I watched as he sat up his hippogriff body and snapped his beak at me before he changed again. However, he quickly turned as he ran toward me and I knew that I needed to react quickly. From what I could see in the first second of the transformation, I knew that he was changing into a velociraptor. Not a creature that was easily dealt with by room-sized creatures. However, I didn't want to kill the boy and, if I did change into another velociraptor to face him, then I might accidentally do that due to the instincts the creatures had.

So, I went off of instinct and let the image of the first dinosaur that could hopefully do some damage to the velociraptor fill my head completely before I ran forward and slid under the boy, much to his surprise before I changed into my chosen dinosaur. I let out a hiss and let my neck frill expand and rattle as I let out a warning to the boy. But, he didn't get that and, with surprising speed, he launched at me with his claws extended. Pure survival instinct kicked in and I let out a spit of the paralyzing venom stored in poison glands in my mouth. Even as the poison flew, I turned into my human form and ran toward the boy velociraptor. When I took my first step toward him, he let out a howl as the poison hit his scaled skin and he immediately turned back into his human form.

"It burns!" The boy yelled out.

"Water mage now!" I yelled as I came to kneel by the boy before addressing him. "Yes, it burns. Just feel lucky that it hit your shoulder and not your eyes or you would be in even worse trouble." The water mage then knelt down by me and I motioned to the boy's shoulder before saying, "Keep a gentle but constant shower of water here for twenty to thirty minutes. Can you do that?"

The boy nodded and started to work on that.

A sound of a single clap caused me to focus my attention on Nero as he stepped down from in front of his chair. "My congratulations to you my friend. If I am being honest, I wasn't sure if the boy there would survive fighting against you. Of course, if you would have killed him then, in my book, you would have lost."

I raised an eyebrow at that, as some questioning mutters started to fly among the non-injured members of Crypt Veil, and focused more on Nero. "You believed that I would have killed the boy?"

"Anyone fighting against you should have that worry in the back of their minds...no?" He shot back.

"Maybe the old me. However, I left that life behind and I am the guild master of my own legal guild now." I answered him back.

"What is he talking about boss and what do you mean?" I heard someone ask from behind me.

At that, Nero looked at them all before motioning to me. "Here in front of us is a past member of the assassin guild Death Head Caucus and a legendary transformation mage...even at his young age." He then turned his glance back to me. "This is Anu Biskaln and, from the little information I was able to gain about him when I heard he was running a legal guild around here, he was quite deadly and accurate. Tell me Anu," Okay, now he was back to addressing me. "how many openings did you find when fighting Adrian there that your past self could have used to kill him?"

Well, he did want to know and I was in a giving mood. Plus, this might deter the newer members of Crypt Veil from causing trouble if they know I will be in town somewhat regularly. "At least thirty, though I stopped counting the extremely obvious ones after our first transformation set was done."

"Very good." Nero stated with a smirk as he sat down on his seat. He then motioned to Melody. "Since you have won the fight, I turn over ownership of the contracts binding Melody Sirenaid to Crypt Veil over to you, Anu Biskaln." He then paused. "As for the other issue, I will contact Paralex and let him know that he shouldn't have to worry about my members causing any more issues for people who are in or around Dawn City. That is especially since you are very good friends with Paralex...and I hope you will soon become a friend of mine as well."

I smiled and took the papers from Nero before saying, "I look forward to it." I then motioned for Melody, who still looked surprised, to follow me. She did and, once we were a good ways away from the Crypt Veil building, I stopped and turned to the girl whose life I had just turned upside down...and hopefully for the better. "Miss Melody," I started.

But, she stopped me with a shake of her head. "Melody. Please." Her voice was soft but audible quite clearly. Also, I could hear a slight undertone of desperation in her voice.

"Very well." I agreed with her. "Melody, I know events today may have been...unexpected for you. To be honest, before you ran into me yesterday, I was not expecting events to unfold as they did."

She seemed hesitant, and I noticed a glance go to the papers still in my hand, before she said, "They...were surprising and unusual, yes." She was being careful and I didn't want this kind of friendship with this girl.

So, I let out a sigh before continuing. "Melody, please. I think you may have the wrong idea about how events went today. I did not challenge Crypt Veil for this contract to keep these papers." Her face grew slightly more worried when I said that. So, I moved my hand inside my cloak pocket before continuing. "I wanted to make sure that these could never be used to imprison you again." I then opened my magic flame starter and activated it before moving it toward the papers in my hands.

Instantly, the magical fire enveloped the papers and, in just a few seconds, the flimsy pieces of paper that were binding Melody Sirenaid to a life of servitude were but a distant memory. Her pink eyes were wide with shock as the last piece of paper burned away. "You...why? I...I don't...understand." She seemed confused and in shock as she spoke that to me.

And that meant that an explanation from me was necessary. "As Nero introduced me as, I am Anu Biskaln. I am the guild master of the Jackal Fang guild. I can attest first hand that being forced into one place to work for others is not the kind of life one wishes to live. While my own circumstances were due to choices I made, yours was not. You can not help how you were born or who gave birth to you. You were forced away because of something that you could not control. I would be doing my guild a disservice if I did not take action. You are free to do whatever you wish with your life now. You can go wherever you wish and, as long as it is within the law, you can do whatever you wish as well."

"I...I don't know what to do. I never thought this day would come." Melody started, tears trickling down her face as a smile appeared. "I mean, of course, I would fantasize but I brushed most of those ideas away pretty quickly. I'm not sure where I would start though." She seemed hesitant while saying that last bit.

Hopefully, I could help this girl since I did mainly force her onto this path, whether she was ready or not. "I am here to help however I can. If you wished it, you could join my guild in a heartbeat. If you wished to go to,"

"Really?" I was startled into silence as her joyful tone hit me. It was almost like her own joyfulness was spread to me. It felt like I was on a euphoric high that I never wanted to come down from and it had thrown me into shock. When I continued to stare at her in shock, she seemed to realize something and snapped her fingers. Instantly, I felt the euphoric high that came before suddenly vanish before Melody spoke. "Sorry about that. I have quite a few branches of sound magic at my disposal but I really haven't had a chance to work with them at all."

Wait...she… "You're a mage?" I asked her slowly, just in case I misheard her.

In turn, Melody nodded. "Yeah. That little bit there was a part of my sound seith magic. I can send the emotions I am feeling to someone else through the sound of my voice. There are other aspects of my magic as well but I am still working on them." She then seemed to grow slightly nervous before she continued. "Anu...about your offer...to join your guild that is...did you mean that?"

"Of course I did. Is that what you want?" I asked her. Was I really about to gain yet another member in this first year?

It seemed so as she nodded enthusiastically. "Yes sir. One of the fantasies that I held onto when I was with Crypt Veil was to someday join a magic guild and learn to control my magic and help others! Oh, I would be so honored if I could join your guild! Please?" She asked me with wide eyes.

Well, what else would my answer be? "Of course Melody. Welcome to Jackal Fang! We'll get you your stamp when we get back to the guild. It will take us some time so you can tell me what you wish to about yourself and I can give you the heads up on your new guildmates."

And our conversation for the time walking to the guild was filled with information flying between the two of us. I was so enraptured in our conversation that I didn't realize that we had arrived at the doors of the guild until I noticed that we had stopped walking and Melody was staring in front of us with wide eyes. So, I looked as well as she said, "Wow. Those are big doors." Yes, they could be a bit intimidating.

"Well, I hope that they will be the doors to the new home of many more mages to come." I responded to her before I opened the doors. The first thing that caught my sight was that everyone was sitting at the bar...or standing behind in Sorano's case, and they seemed to be in deep conversation about something. While I was curious about what that was, I knew that I had to introduce them to their newest guild member before they all started asking questions. "Jackal Fang, let me introduce the newest member of our guild; the sound mage Melody Sirenaid!"

Immediately, and slightly to my surprise, Erik was the first one to walk up to us...well more specifically up to Melody, before he held out his hand. "The name's Erik, second generation poison dragon slayer mage, for right now captain of one of the teams here at the guild...though none of us have named our teams yet except for Richard since we really don't have enough members on any of them for us to name them yet. Would you like to be the first member of my team?"

She just joined the guild and he was already asking her to be on his team? This seemed very fast, especially for him, and I was about to say something along those lines when Melody spoke first, a small smile on her face. "I would like nothing better. Thank you." She then took his hand in hers and they shook on that.

...Well, that was unexpected. "Master you better get upstairs and start that paperwork!" Sorano yelled at me.

...And that was expected.

* * *

 **Anu: *tiptoeing away* I think I can make it.**

 **Sorano: *appears* Anu, get your ass back into that office. You have paperwork that needs to be done.**

 **Anu: *whines* But we have to celebrate our new member!**

 **Melody: *innocently* Isn't there paperwork that needs to be filled out for the Council telling them that I am a new member?**

 **Anu: *looks betrayed* Et tu Melody?**

 **Sorano: *headslaps* Now dog!**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you have all enjoyed this chapter! I am sorry for not keeping up with updating like I hoped but I did have finals and they tried to kick my butt. But, I got the better of them!**

 **So, with this chapter, we meet the sound mage Melody! She is a little nervous now, and she won't be the most active of the guild, but I'm sure there will be things for her to do. Her relations, which I am not getting into right now, aren't exactly the nicest family in the world. They will be characters that might pop up in eventual Fairy Tail stories, but for now, you get to enjoy the black sheep of the Sirenaids!**

 **Next chapter isn't as ominous as it seems to be from the title. Yes, there are sad moments but those are a part of life. So, speaking on next chapter, here are the next couple of chapter titles!**

 **Chapter 4: Death**

 **Chapter 5: Guiding Light**

 **Chapter 6:... (next time...and that may be sooner than you expect!)**

 **Alright, so that is all for now. Leave a review if you would like, even to drop a hi at me. Until next time though, TTYL! *thinking about the holidays***


	5. Death

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Anu: *suspicious* You are updating this rather quickly. Have you had this already typed.**

 **Authoress: *nervous* It depends.**

 **Anu: *stares* On what?**

 **Authoress: *sheepishly* What are my odds of living if I give you a certain answer?**

* * *

Chapter 4: Death

 **November 2** **nd** **, X785**

 **Del's 1st P.O.V.**

It was too hot. Through all the years I had lived, this had to be the warmest November day that I had ever been in. This was especially since I was currently in the mountains by Old Fort. Not to mention that yesterday had actually been a cold day. "It's too warm." I grumbled as I continued on.

"This is nice. Why are you complaining about it?" My pink exceed, Rosebud, commented as she flew above me. "Do you want it to be cold?"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you really want to know that answer?"

She paused, hovering right above me, before she came down and sat on my shoulder. "Probably not." Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Rosebud looking toward the sky that was heavily saturated with white clouds. "I miss everyone."

I found myself glancing up at the sky and found myself letting out a sigh. "Me too Rose, me too."

When I was young, I had been around mighty dragons, friendly exceeds, and familiar slayers. Even though I hadn't see the dragon Polonia, her slayer Hannah, and her exceed Toxa very often, I had always considered them family.

But, I was not out here searching for them. No, the journey I was on now had started with me searching for a different trio of my family. At the beginning of my journey, however, I had found the bones of the mighty dragon Geb, who had been one of the ones I was searching for. However, I had not been upset by his death. I allowed myself to grieve and I reburied the bones, but it had been his time to die. Plus, I had known that his time was drawing near. A few years ago, not long after I had seen the old dragon alive for what I knew now was the last time, I remembered having a talk with my dragon Setophis about that very topic.

Flashback.

" _Where did they go Set?" I asked my dragon as he continued to give me advanced lessons on being a slayer. One week ago, Geb had taken his slayer, who was a sister to me, and her exceed to a secret place that I didn't know. I didn't like not knowing where she was._

 _Setophis turned his mighty head to look at me. "Del you know that Geb did not even inform me of where he was taking them. I know their location just as well as you do."_

 _Well, I didn't like that answer at all. "Why did he have to go away?"_

 _My dragon studied me for a moment before he responded. "Del, he is going into his final lessons with Eden."_

 _But that didn't make any sense! "But you started my final lessons before he left and you didn't take me away,"_

" _Del," I paused and listened closely. Set didn't interrupt me often so I knew that what he was about to say was important. "while you are correct that I did not isolate us during these final teachings, Geb had reasons to leave. While I know a few of them, I believe that only one will be all you should need to satisfy your confusion. Geb is old, even when compared to other dragons. His time to depart our plane of existence is coming close. From his determination, he will return to the earth within two months. Since Eden will be his last slayer, Geb wants to fully immerse himself in her last months of teaching her what he knows."_

 _I found myself paralyzed where I stood. The teachings that I have learned from Setophis focused primarily on the concept of death. But, to have the practice hit so close to home hurt. Eden, my kin, was going to have to mourn the loss of Geb alone. While that knowledge hurt, I also knew that she was prepared for this. During one of our 'girl talks' away from our dragons, she had told me that she knew he was coming close to dying. I just don't think either of us realized that he was this close to dying._

 _But, with the thought of my sister in my head, another worrying thought came to me. "Set, what's Eden going to do when Geb dies?"_

 _For the first time since this conversation started, Setophis smiled. "She has a communication lacrima that she will call us on to come and give Geb proper burial rights. Then, she will come back with us and I'll have two rambunctious slayers to deal with."_

 _A large grin split my face at that before I laughed. "You know you love us Set."_

 _He cast a playful weary look toward me. "Remind me of that in a couple months."_

" _Hey!" I yelled before I tackled my dragon._

End of Flashback.

But, fate didn't have any of our plans in its plans. When the time came that Setophis and I were expecting that call from Eden, dark guild mages had found our den and attacked. Set and I fought them fiercely, but while he was holding his own...I was struggling. One of the mages hit me in the head and I was in a daze. Setophis had lost it and had killed the mage that had struck me. But, that had left him open and a few of their requip mages...they stabbed him through his heart.

I had snapped and went on a rampage, taking out the rest of the mages. But Setophis, who was by some miracle still alive after the fight, was laying on the ground in bad shape I knew that he was dying and it hurt. He had then given me a choice: put his lacrima in my body and become a third generation slayer or destroy the lacrima so it couldn't be used for evil purposes. I couldn't bring myself to ingest his lacrima, so I went with the second option. It had been hard, watching my dragon die in front of me...and even harder to destroy his lacrima. But, I had responsibilities.

After giving Set the proper burial rights, and discovering that the only comm lacrima we had was broke, I set out with Rosebud on our journey to find the others. It has been a long journey, and I've met some very interesting people in some very unique places. However, nothing would beat the feeling I would have when I finally found Eden and Pitch. That was what I was striving for.

"Del, can we stop to eat?" Rose asked me as we entered a clearing that had a few fruit trees in it.

Well, I was hungry and it was about noon. So, I nodded and opened my bag before taking out my blanket and laid it on the ground while Rose went to pick some of the fruit that was hanging on the trees. I took out the water bucket from my bag, the bucket wasn't very big but it would be enough to get Rose and me a drink from the river about a quarter mile back. It wouldn't take me long to get there so I stood and made my way.

Once I got to the river, I took a small handful of the water and brought it to my lips. Then, I took a quick sip out of the water in my hands before letting go of the rest. It was a trick that Setophis had taught me to test for bad water. Only taking a quick sip would make sure I didn't take in too many bad chemicals...dropping the rest of the water right away would make sure that I wasn't tempted to drink more when I was extremely thirsty.

But, as I swished the sip I had in my mouth, I could tell that this water was untouched. That was good. So, I took the bucket and filled it quickly before making it back to camp. Rose had already cut a couple of the fruits, which I could now see as pears, and she was sitting waiting with our water cups out. Our cups were simply wood small logs that I had hollowed out. Not the best but it worked for us.

After we ate, Rose and I cleaned up and continued on our way. The walking seemed to go forever, and that wasn't helped that we were constantly surrounded by woods. Hopefully, we would find something a little more interesting to look at.

Also, as the hours soon started to show fading light, I started to feel a nip of cold. Damn now I was missing the heat from earlier. Of course, this was November in the mountains. But, I couldn't focus on that for now. A few minutes ago, Rose had come down from the sky to cuddle on my shoulder under my shirt. Her head was the only thing peeking out and I knew that we had to find shelter soon. It was getting dark and, even with my enhanced sight, it would be hard to see.

Soon, I came to a clearing and I tried to look up at the large mountains that were in front of me for a cave. Instead of a cave, however, I found my eyes widening slightly at the sight of two gigantic doors that seemed to be in the side of the mountain. I didn't know who was up there but, as long as they weren't a dark guild, I hoped that they would have a place for us to stay the night.

 **Melody's 1st P.O.V.**

I smiled as I washed out one of the mugs that Master had been using earlier. It had been a few months since master had earned me my freedom and I had joined his guild. So far, no regrets. Everyone was so understanding about my hesitation to go out on missions often until I learned to control my sirenic half.

That was specially geared to Erik, who was the captain of our team. Even though I knew that I was the only member of his team for the moment, he understood my issues and would go out with Richard or Sawyer on missions mostly. Of course, just because I didn't go on missions much, didn't mean that Erik hadn't taken the liberty of naming our team...Team Poison Song. I was slightly annoyed that he had named our team after our magic but I wouldn't fight it. It did have a nice ring to its sound.

Of course, me not taking missions had been a small issue at first. With Sorano not having magic when I first joined, we both found ourselves without work to do. Of course, Master didn't mind that because, most times, I would do a large portion of his paperwork. Actually, up until September 15th, Master's paperwork was basically non-existent. But, it was that day that Sorano discovered her new magic.

...Well, more accurate being it found her.

Flashback.

" _Hey Sorano, can you get take this plate out for me?" I asked Sorano as I balanced three plates on my arms. Erik, Eden, and Richard were going to be taking a mission this morning to Minstrel to help one of the Master's old associates. So, I had cooked them up a big breakfast with some granite for Eden and some bleach-infused sausage for Erik. The drinks were black coffee for Richard, highly caffeinated hot chocolate for Eden, and some coffee mixed with arsenic for Erik. But, Richard's plate was unbalanced since I was trying to compensate for the weight on Eden's and Erik's plates._

 _She nodded and came behind the counter before relieving me of Richard's plate and walked forward. So far, Sorano had tried a few different magic but none had been working for her. So, she was taking a month hiatus to try and regroup her thoughts before going at it again. I hoped she got magic soon. Sorano was a hard-working woman who was trying to make up for her past mistakes. If anyone deserved a new magic, it was her._

 _The two of us arrived at the table she put her plate down in front of Richard while I set the ones for Eden and Erik down. "Smells great Melody!" Eden commented before she grabbed a piece of granite and popped it into her mouth like popcorn._

 _Erik nodded as he took a bite of his sausage. "Yeah. Good as always. Master up yet?"_

 _I nodded my head at his question and motioned upstairs. "When I got up earlier, I saw his office light on and I heard him moving in there. I think he was actually getting some of his paperwork done on his own."_

 _Sorano, in turned, scoffed in surprise at that. "Would be a first in a long time for him. Speaking on that," She then turned to me and put her hands on her hips. "Melody you need to let Master do some of his work on his own. I know you like helping him, and with the two of us here you need work to do, but it is the jackal's responsibility to do his own damned work. You're letting him get off too easily lately."_

 _While I agreed with her, I did need work to do and, when we were both here…which was quite often, we usually needed to find other work to keep ourselves occupied. So, while I agreed with her, I had to remind her of this. "Sorano I know. But with both of us being here I need to do something that keeps me busy and that seems to be the one constant work around here."_

 _She had her hands on her hips when I first started that response but, after I got to the end, she let out a sigh and gave a knowing smile. "Well, I can't argue that logic. Master does seem to like to leave a lot of that work for later." We both then laughed._

" _Hey!" We all looked up to Master and, while I couldn't see everyone's looks, I could bet that we were all throwing the master the same knowing look. "Just because I have wonderful guild members who are capable of helping me with the paperwork for the guild doesn't mean that I always leave paper…work." He slowed his speech as, at the very least, my own look increased in disbelief. Master was almost notorious for leaving as much paper work for others to do as possible. "You know what?" Master started as he began to walk down the stairs. "It's too early for this." Yep, the best escape from that argument that he could make without really losing._

 _Once he was down on this level and up to the table, Erik nodded and ate another of his sausages before saying, "So, from what we've been talking through, the mission should only take a couple of weeks…a month at most. We'll definitely be back in time for Halloween."_

 _Yeah, the big talk so far was our preplanning for our Halloween celebration. Master had already ordered some decorations from many of the stores in Dawn City and they were due to arrive for pickup the first week of October. Elgor was supposed to contact the master when the supplies arrived…unless we were in town._

 _Everyone else were helping with their own personal touches of decorations and we were all working on our costumes during our downtime. I didn't know who most of the others were going as but Erik had asked for help in designing a rogue knight costume. It was an interesting design and I couldn't wait to see how it looked! The two of us had actually talked about our costumes and, since he was going to be a rogue knight, I decided to go along with his theme and was designing an outfit as a rebel princess. Erik was more excited about this then he let the others know._

 _Master nodded at Erik's statement before saying, "That's good. Paralex wants us to stop by his headquarters and give a report and Crypt Veil says that they will give us a little bonus candy if we make an appearance at their party." Anu then turned to me as Sorano started to walk back toward the bar and seemed about to ask me something._

 _But, he didn't get the chance to speak._

 _We all let out yells of surprise and took a step away from Sorano as a large golden beam of light suddenly surrounded her. What was going on? Last I heard, the previous magic that Sorano had tried to learn had been an earth magic, with Eden's help, but that was nowhere near what we were seeing now. What was this light? We all knew that Sorano used to be a Celestial spirit mage but, from what we all knew, due to her past crimes she lost the ability to contract with them. But, that was the only magic that was coming to mind while seeing this light._

 _As the light continued longer, I felt panic start to rise in me. Panic was not a good emotion for me. If I didn't keep myself in check, my other side could come out and nobody wanted that right now. "Master, what's going on?" I asked Anu as I stood next to him, a bit of panic in my voice._

 _He put a hand on my shoulder but, from what I could see in his eyes, I could tell he was worried as well. "Honestly Melody…I don't know." The complexity of information I was getting from his voice told me that his worry and panic was getting to my levels as well. Glancing at the others around us I could see that everyone was tense. None of us knew what was going on and it was unnerving._

 _Finally, after many minutes, the light faded around Sorano and I felt myself tense even more as I saw that there was now another person standing behind her with their arms seemingly wrapped around her. No. That wasn't right. As the light faded, there was a being with large wings that had white feathers except for around his wing bones, which were colored gray. His hair was blonde and was short in the back while his bangs came across his face and reached his jawline. His teal eyes seemed to be taking in the sight of all of us carefully and it had felt slightly unnerving being studied like that._

 _For his outfit, he wore a simple gray polo with a white shirt underneath, gray pants, and gray riding boots. He had a simple silver hilted sword hanging at his hip and a simple small gray cross on a chain around his neck._

 _This seemingly angel stared at all of us before looking down at Sorano, who smiled and looked up at him, before he seemed to relax his hold on Sorano and gave a small smile before speaking. "Greetings family of my mythic mage. I am George the Angel of Victory and I am the first contract, called the First at times, of the new mythic mage Sorano Aguria."_

End of flashback.

That was the guild's first contact with mythic magic. George had explained all that he knew about the magic he was a part of but, since angels were mostly new to the mythic scene, according to him, he didn't have much information on that. One week after that, almost one week exactly from when George had contracted her, another mythic had contracted Sorano: Cecilia the Angel of Music. Like George, though, she didn't know much about being a mythic. Now, thanks to that, I got all the work to myself around the guild.

Much to Anu's dismay.

Right now, besides myself and said guild master, the other guild members were on a requested mission. Nabela, a daughter of a nomadic chief, had convinced her father to send us a request to help get rid of a dark guild that was terrorizing his people to strong-arm him into helping them with one of their plots. Sorano had actually met Nabela in the Tower of Heaven and had considered her a friend. So, Anu had given clearance for all of them to go.

The sound of the doors opening caused me to jump and I studied the entrance as a figure started to come in. The team shouldn't be back yet, since Master hadn't come down to say that they had called yet, so hopefully this wasn't them. That could only mean trouble.

Finally, the figure of a girl around Eden's age with short choppy gray hair, gray eyes, and pale skin appeared in the doorway with a pink exceed's head peeking out of the girl's shirt. With how cold it was outside, since this was November in the Mountains, I knew that I had to move quickly.

"Master get down here!" I yelled up to the Master, my magic slightly boosting my voice so I was sure that he heard me, before I grabbed a blanket and ran up to the girl and led her to sit at the bar before returning behind it to get some food and some hot cocoa for her. She looked chilled to the bone.

 **Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

My eyes were slightly wide with surprise when I stopped running at the top of the stairs and stared down to the bar area. There, sitting and chit-chatting somewhat with Melody, was a girl with gray hair and a pink exceed in its own blanket. The guild wasn't used to getting visitors and one with an exceed was a big surprise. It was night time in the mountains and it was rare to see anyone travelling, especially alone. Of course, the girl's exceed was with her but even with the exceed it would be dangerous to travel alone in the mountains.

Before Melody had yelled for me, I had just gotten off the line with the team at the village. Deminal, the village leader who was also a mage, had praised the work that the team had done in fighting off the dark guild and making sure that they wouldn't bother the village again. He said that he had wished to do more than just pay the reward for the work that the team had done so the team had informed me that the chief was coming to the guild to enchant the main doors. They should arrive in about three hours time.

But, before I could think more on that, I had to figure out who this was and what she was doing travelling with just herself and her exceed in November at night in the mountains.

Once I was down the stairs, the whole time I was walking I noticed that the girl had been watching me, I stood behind the counter with Melody before introducing myself. "Hello, I am Master Anu Biskaln, transformation mage, guild master of the Jackal Fang guild." I then motioned to her. "And who are you two?"

The girl looked between myself and Melody for a few minutes before she spoke. "I am Del Bishop, Undead Dragon Slayer, and this is my exceed Rosebud. Thank you for your hospitality."

Seeing as the girl still looked cold, I motioned to the lounge area before saying, "It might be more comfortable if we talk over there. Come, and you can tell us what brings you up here in the mountains in November." I motioned before moving out from behind the bar, Melody joining behind me. The girl seemed to hesitate but, when her Exceed flew ahead of her, Del seemed to decide to trust us more and walked over, the cup of cocoa I had no doubt Melody made for her in her hands, before she came and sat on the sofa across from the one that Melody and I were sitting on.

Del put on a few more blankets before she spoke again. "I'm looking for a friend of mine and her exceed. We were raised together, our dragons being very close friends, and we counted ourselves as sisters." This girl then told Melody and I about what happened with her dragon, but didn't give the name of the other girl, exceed, or dragon, before saying, "Rosebud and I heard a rumor that there might be a dragon slayer near Dawn City and so we moved as best we could to get there. But, we didn't time out how far we traveled tonight and were looking for a cave when we saw your guild doors." She then bowed her head to us, Rosebud miming her, before saying, "Thank you so much for your hospitality."

I nodded at that. "It is no problem Del. We like to help whoever we can." A brilliant idea then comes to my head. "Del, may I offer you a proposition?" She looked at me warily so I decided to not dodge around the question. "I understand that you are looking for your friend. If you join my guild, we can offer you the resources and assistance to find this friend of yours. We are not a restraining guild and many of our members go off on their own missions with my approval. My approval is not hard to earn for a mission. With our help, I feel like we could help you find your friend much faster. So, will you join us?"

Like I suspected would happen, the girl immediately looked guarded...suspicious. I was afraid of this but I had a feeling that I usually felt when I had brought in Eden and Melody...a feeling I had when I decided to have the first five members of my guild become its founding members. I would be remiss if I did not act upon this feeling. While the girl looked like she was ready to bolt out the doors and back into the cold, we were all surprised when her pink exceed, Rosebud, jumped down to the table and looked up to me with a studying look. "You'll let us look for our friends without restraint?"

This was a smart exceed and I was hoping that she and her slayer joined our guild. Regardless of their decision, I nodded at the exceed. "Yes. We are a familial guild and the only requirement that we have is that you join a team." The team concept was a strong standard since we had started the guild. "While you must be a member of a team, that does not restrain you from who you can work with, or from even taking solo missions."

Melody then took over from there. "Unlike other guilds, the team system here is more for keeping tabs on everyone and making sure they are alright. I am a member of a team called team Poison Song but I rarely go on missions myself. Usually, my other team member goes on missions by himself. But, I keep track of my teammate and make sure that he is alright." She then paused. "Also, while the master didn't set this up, we guild members have decided to have leaders of each team. A captain that the team will choose and their lieutenant, which the captain chooses, to help the team run smoothly when together. But again, this system will not impede on any missions that you wish to undertake."

Both Del and Rosebud looked between the two of us, Del nervous and Rosebud studying us, before Rosebud nodded. "Then we accept."

That got a reaction out of Del. "Rose! You aren't even going to talk to me about this?" Del was definitely surprised that Rosebud had spoken for them both.

Rosebud looked back at her dragon slayer before huffing and saying, "Del, we need a place to call home while we look for them. I doubt we will find much better and, even as new a guild as they seem, they seem to be sincere and honest. This will be best for us and you know it."

The exceed and the dragon slayer seemed to have a stare off with each other before, to my surprise, the slayer faltered. After a few more seconds, she sighed and turned to us before saying, "I guess we'll join your guild. But I swear, if you break your promise, I'll tear this place and you all down." Seemed fair enough.

I went to ask her about her guild mark when I noticed that she had fallen asleep, as had her exceed. Guess she had been tense about us but, once that defence was down, she let herself fall asleep. Plus, with the travelling that she and Rosebud had to do just today, then they deserved some rest before the rest of the guild arrived. "Melody,"

"Yes Master?" Melody asked as we both stood.

Motioning to the dragon slayer, I continued. "Why don't you take her up to the med bay and put her in one of the beds there? And stay with her until she wakes up if you could. That way, she can have her mark put on before she is bombarded by the rest of the guild. They just called and said that they are on their way with the village chief. Said something about want to enchant the doors since they didn't do damage during the mission."

"That's a first." Melody laughed as she picked up Del. Once Melody, had Del, I picked up the exceed and placed her ontop of Del before Melody nodded. "I'll make sure that she wakes up on her own. You'll have to run the bar for that time though. Who knows if we will get anymore visitors?" She then started to make her way up the stairs.

Once she reached the floor she would need, I decided to see if I could get away with something, "Oh and Melody, if you don't mind while your waiting, could you,"

"No Master. That paperwork will be waiting for you when you get done. We'll come back down when she is ready." Melody laughed at me before disappearing.

Well, it was worth a try. But, the paperwork I had and the extra work that I was going to have to register Del as a member of our guild would be worth it. "So much for guildmaster appreciation." I remarked with a smug look as I poured myself a shot of whiskey. This guild was getting crazy and I was glad for it.

 **Eden's 1st P.O.V.**

I felt a relieved smile come onto my face as the doors to the guild came in sight. While this mission wasn't necessarily hard, I wanted to come back due to some information that I had picked up from a member of Crypt Veil, Blythe Ashworth. She had just come from Dawn City and she had heard a rumor that there as a girl about my age with an exceed wondering around the woods in the mountains near the guild. This could be Del, and I didn't want to miss this chance to find her.

When Geb had died, I had been torn but, after burying him, I had gone off to find Del. Geb, who had been alive at the time, and I had heard about the attack on Del and Setophis. So, once Geb passed, I had made my way to the cave where we had once lived together. I had found Setophis laid to rest but I had not found Del, and I couldn't raise her on the lacrima that Geb had given me to call Del and Setophis to pick me up. So, I had gone out in search of Del and her exceed, Rosebud, and had ended up at Jackal Fang.

With this hot lead on Del, I wanted to get back to the guild as quickly as we could so that I could go and search. Yes, I knew that it was dark out and even my enhanced vision was going to make this difficult, but I couldn't waste a single second in looking for Del. She had always been like a sister to me and I knew that she would want to join Jackal Fang with me as soon as I told her. Jackal Fang had done so much for me, and I wanted her to experience the same happiness.

"Hey Eden slow up a little." I turned at Sorano's voice and slowed down a little as the rest of them moved to catch up to me. Once they all reached me, my guildmate continued speaking. "Just because the rest of us don't have heightened senses like you do, that doesn't meant that you should get so far ahead."

I flinched slightly at that before bowing my head at them all in apology before saying, "I'm sorry everyone. I'm just excited to check in at the guild before heading out. I got a tip from Crypt Veil that my friend that I have been looking for since I arrived at Jackal Fang might be in the area and I want to use as much time as I can in looking for her."

Deminal let out a laugh at that before he spoke. "It is alright Eden. I can understand your want to search for this friend of yours. But, the spirits seem to be surrounding you with favor. I believe that this night shall not pass without good fortune smiling upon you and your endeavors."

I still didn't understand the way he talked but, what I could tell, was that he was giving me a compliment and some good luck. "Thank you very much Deminal." We then let him up the stairs to the guild. It didn't seem like a long walk for me, and when I took a glance behind me, I was surprised that Deminal didn't seem to be having a problem with the walk either. While we did have steps, this wasn't the easiest thing to walk. But, I couldn't allow my thoughts to be on that right now. So, instead, I reached the doors and opened them before saying, "We're back everyone!"

And I paused, waiting for Melody to yell at me saying that she could hear me just fine, and that she would yell up for the master. But, instead, I jumped when Anu's voice answered me instead. "I can see that quite well Eden."

Jumping at that, I focused my vision and I was surprised to see Anu coming out from behind the bar. What was he doing behind there and where the fuck was Melody? "So, you must be the fabled Anu Biskaln. I am Deminal and it is a pleasure to meet you." Deminal didn't miss a beat and walked to meet the Master before shaking his hand.

"I am and it is an honor to meet you as well Deminal." Anu responded to him before saying, "I hope the trip up here was enjoyable for you."

The chief, in return, nodded. "Very." He then looked back toward the doors before nodding. "It seems I have some work to do. I believe that you have some things to discuss with your guild members."

Confusion came over me when Deminal said that, but I focused on Anu as he turned to look at us and Deminal went to enchant the doors. "What does he mean by that Anu?" Erik asked.

Anu let out a sigh before saying, "Well, a few hours ago, we had some unexpected friends show up. Melody is currently upstairs with our new friends since they needed some sleep. I hope they will all come back down soon to meet you all."

...He was being dodgy. When Anu got dodgy, that meant that you had to hide and hope that you were not the focus of that dodgy-ness. Last time the Master acted like this, I somehow ended up in a bubblegum pink dragon costume and walking down mainstreet of Dawn City singing kumbaya.

Losing a bet with the Master was a very dangerous thing to do if you valued your pride.

"Anu," We all looked at Sawyer as he addressed the Master. "When you are talking about these friends, are they going to be new members of our guild?"

We all stared at Master when Sawyer asked that. We hadn't had a new member since Melody back in August and, while I wasn't complaining about the rate that we getting members, since we weren't exactly advertising the guild like most guilds did, it seemed like now was a good time to have some. Right before Christmas, I would take a new guild member as a Christmas gift.

"Yes." A smile spread across my face when Master answered in a positive. "Our new member is upstairs with Melody right now getting some rest. I am hoping that they will come back down here before the rest of us turn in for the night so introductions can be made and you all can fight over whose team she is going to be on."

"I doubt that is going to happen." We all jumped when Deminal came back over and said that before turning to Master Anu. "The doors to your guild are now enchanted to never be broken and to never let in something that is not allowed in." He then, to my surprise, walked back toward the doors while saying, "I must return to my people now."

"Would you like an escort?" I asked him. This would give me a chance to search for Del if that rumor was anything to go on.

But, to my surprise, Deminal shook his head. "Do not worry for me, I shall be able to make my way back to my people on my own." Well, that didn't work how I wanted it too. I was going to need to figure out another excuse to go out and hunt down this lead. I'm sure that the new member wouldn't mind if I didn't stay long. I returned my focus to Deminal as he opened to doors but, before he left, he turned back and laughed. "I believe that things in this guild are about to become very exciting and I don't think it would be healthy for me to get into the middle of it. Have a good night." He then shut the door behind him.

We all stayed quiet for a few minutes before Sorano shook her head and motioned to the doors. "Deminal always has a weird way of saying things. Sometimes I think he just does it so no one questions him leaving a party."

"Man, and I was hoping to go with him." I laughed out before continuing. "I got a hot tip from Blythe Ashworth, you know, one of Crypt Veil's people, about that girl I've been looking for since before I came here. I was hoping to get out tonight and look around the area that Blythe said that the rumors came,"

"Eden?!"

My whole body froze as I heard that voice coming from the second floor of the guild. No way...it couldn't be. Not after all of this searching. All of the time and effort that Pitch and I had put into finding her...they couldn't be here. No, I had to be imagining things. Maybe it was the cold. I had been living inside for so long that maybe the cold could actually get to me now.

"Pitch!" That second voice caused me to snap my head in the direction of the voices and I about felt my heart snap in two at what I saw. There hugging Pitch was Rosebud. And if Rosebud was really here, then that meant that her dragon slayer…

My eyes drifted to look at who was standing at the second floor and my heart started to race at who I saw. Short shaggy gray hair, and piercing silver eyes that held a lot more fun than they should. A smile split my face as I realized that there was no doubt. Finally, I had found them. "Rosebud...Del." I barely got out, tears of joy threatening to fall.

Del let out a laugh, like she always used to when I would get surprised, before she jumped down from the second floor and ran up to me before giving me a giant hug. "Here I was ready to buckle down with this guild to find your ass and you're already here." She then leaned in closer so her mouth was by my ear. "I'm so glad I found you Eden."

My smile softened as I pulled her closer, just to make sure she was really here, before I whispered to her. "I'm so glad I found you Del."

We stayed together for a few more seconds before we parted and Del stepped back before waving at everyone else. "So, you're the rest of my guildmates that Melody was telling me about upstairs." Guildmates? Did that mean that… I watched as Del turned around, so we could all see the silver guild mark on the back of her neck, before she returned to face us and said, "The name's Del Bishop, almost sister to Eden Flint, first generation undead dragon slayer, and now a member of this guild thanks to Anu for accepting me and Melody for putting this on while we were upstairs."

I saw movement from Erik and, out of reaction, I ran up to Del and wrapped her in a side embrace before turning to my guildmate and growling slightly. "Mine." I then calmed down slightly before glaring at the second generation poison dragon slayer. "Del is going to be a member of my team and you are not going to lay any claim that says otherwise."

While I could see Erik debating that to himself, I guess he was going to give me an easy day since this was my long lost friend and her exceed who were like family to me. "Wasn't going to dirt scratcher." I smirked at that but didn't let go of Del.

"Damn." I looked up at Del in confusion as she said that. "I was hoping to messing with Master Anu and giving him a hard time before finding you Eden."

A laugh escaped me at her comment. Same old Del. "Don't worry Del, the mutt is just as much fun to mess with without having to look for me. And now, we can work on that together."

The Master, of course, let out a sigh at that. "What did I sign up for?" He then took a shot of whiskey that he must have poured for himself.

The rest of us decided to start laughing at that. While we did though, I stayed close to Del. My friend was finally found and I had Jackal Fang to thank for that. I would make sure that I never forgot what Master Anu has done for Del and me. Never.

* * *

 **Del: So, we are ready for this?**

 **Eden: *smirks* Of course.**

 **Anu: *sighs* This does not sound good for me.**

 **Del: *shrugs* Just give me bones and I'll be happy.**

 **Anu: *laughs* Oh, that is a good one. *sees serious look on Del*...really?**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all liked this! Don't worry! Del is the last dragon slayer that is going to be in the guild. Three is more than enough for me to deal with. While they want to be like Fairy Tail, Jackal Fang is not Fairy Tail. It looks like our member list is growing! Five originals, the master, Eden, Melody, and now Del! That's nine without counting exceeds. Very enjoyable for all of us with the member list growing! Not much to say about Del as a person, since the story showed us a lot of it for us. Next chapter, we will have yet another member and, on an aside, some information about a person who is already a member that will explain a few things about them.**

 **Until then, though, here are the next chapters in the story!**

 **Chapter 5: Guiding Light**

 **Chapter 6: A Demon's Pledge**

 **Chapter 7: ...(of course until next time)**

 **Well, that's all for now. Review if you would like, even to say hi! Until the next time that we meet, TTYL! *watching In the Heat of the Night***


	6. Guiding Light

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Anu: Alright, so who is ready to have some fun?**

 **Eden: I already know that I don't like it when you say that.**

 **Del: *nods* And I know that I really don't like it when you say that.**

 **Anu: *pouts* That's not fair.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Guiding Light

 **April 8th, 786**

 **Narissa's 1st P.O.V.**

There were a lot of things that I could deal with. Really. I was a pretty easy-going girl who liked to have fun and meet new people. I would try almost anything that was legal, and hunting down dark guilds could be fun. But, one thing that wasn't fun was being caught by dark mages for whatever ritual that they were going to have. Seriously. Every so often, some creep would overhear one of the magics that I worked in, and spread the word around until the local dark guild, or dark cult, or dark something or another would track me down and keep me captive for a few days until the time of their ritual.

I mean sure, I usually broke out of these circumstances and I was pretty sure that this was going to be just the same in this case. But, I was still getting annoyed that I got captured in the first place. I mean, sure, celestial mages were in short supply these days but they were still better power sources than me! I was just a simple light mage...with a little extra juice compared to most, but those celestials were still better power sources. In the past two years alone, I had been captured for different rituals at least ten times! Given that the usual holding time was between four to five days before their rituals, and I lost a good bit of time that I could be doing other things.

Like one of my greatest goals, which was to one day find a damn guild to belong to. Part of my meeting new people routine was to try and find a guild that I could call home. But, with all of the ones that I had checked out so far, there was no way that I was going to be in a guild soon. Most of the big name ones, like Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale, just didn't feel right to me. There was a business air around them that really didn't make me feel welcome in the guilds.

Plus, with Mermaid Heel being a female only guild, I wouldn't be able to have my fun with the male sex and that was not something that I was ready to give up on. Men were the gods' gifts to women and I was not going to live my life in a guild where I could not take full advantage of that gift.

So, my guild hunt had continued forward with guilds like Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus. The mages at Quatro were a little too rowdy and constantly violent for my amusement. Seriously too much rowdiness. I appreciated my quiet times a little too much and their guild hall would not allow the noise that they were making to continue while I would want some quiet time. Then, came the mages of Blue Pegasus. While they did understand how to use the beauty of the male body to their advantage...for the most part, they were a little too into the pleasure side of life. While I liked a little pleasure now and then, I definitely needed something else to focus on and it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to be a part of a guild that was known for their hosting capabilities.

Of course, the elephant in the room was the guild called Fairy Tail. When I was younger, I always imagined joining their guild and going on adventures with their mages, getting into trouble, having fun, and just telling the world to go and fuck itself because we at Fairy Tail didn't care. Master Makarov was my idol and I had so wanted to meet him. I had even gone all the way to Magnolia to check out the guild of my dreams.

It wasn't what I was picturing.

Since the disappearance of several core members of the guild several years ago, Fairy Tail had become...depressing. I had visited the guild a couple times during my trip to Magnolia and what I found...wasn't a fun guild who could take on the world. A guild shouldn't determine its outlook by what members were in their guild, what strong members they had. The attitude of the guild should be determined by the people that are in the guild, because they made the first impression on any new members that may or may not show up looking to join... as I had.

So, I had been on my way to the northern reaches of Fiore, to see if there were any obscure guilds up there that I would be interested in joining, when I got stuck in this lovely situation. This dark guild, House a Death, was a decent sized guild with thirty members in it. Not overly large but just large enough to cause me problems. Plus, it wasn't like their name was anything original. I mean, House of Death? Did it get any cheesier than that? I mean, it would have been cool if a light guild was called that. You know, shake things up a little. But for a dark guild? Must not be a lot of imaginative people in this guild.

My focus went to in front of me as the cell door in front of me opened and a rather annoying member of this dark guild walked up to me with a smirk. "So, have you started to panic yet cute thing."

"Hardly." I shot back at the mage. I then looked at the tray he was setting in front of me before shaking my head. "Though, I think I'll have to have a talk with customer service about the food here. Could you really not get me anything better than rat meat and rotten tomatoes?"

His eyebrow twitched at that before he crossed his arms across his chest. "You're lucky you are getting even that wench."

"Oh 'wench'." I mocked him. "Hope it didn't hurt your brain to think of a word that unique you rat-tailed puke-infested dick-sucking shadow-fu" I flinched as I suddenly felt a hand slam against my face before I was grabbed by the shoulders and thrown against the wall. I could see the anger in his eyes but, since most of these rituals that I was supposed to take part in caused for me to be untouched a certain time before, then I wasn't too worried. "What's wrong taint? Can't go all the way?"

A growl came from the idiot in front of me before he let go of me and backed off. "Enjoy your last day of life bimbo. Tomorrow night, you are going to be ripped apart to appease the dark spirits so that they might grant us,"

"'Eternal power that will challenge each and every light guild that dares to go against us.' I've heard it all. I'm still here. What does that tell you about your success chances?" I interrupted him with a smirk. I wasn't going to be dying tomorrow and so I might as well enjoy taunting this moron before then. Would be the last chance he would get to try and say anything back.

The dark guild mage, on his part, glared daggers at me before he slammed the door shut. Once he did, I moved over to the plate and inspected it. I had been kidding about this being rat-meat but, as I looked closer at it,I saw that was what this really was. Fuck. While I really didn't want to eat this...especially with them having cooked it, I knew that I was going to need my energy for tomorrow.

So, with a flinch, I bit into the meat in front of me. While I really didn't like to, I needed my energy for tomorrow night. Even though I was being restrained in magic-restricting cuffs, they didn't completely block my ability to absorb magic from the air to replenish my supply. By tomorrow night, I would have enough saved up to break out of my prison and escape this situation like I normally did when I was captured.

 **April 9th, 786**

 **Erik's 1st P.O.V.**

I took a slow breath as I looked around at the surrounding area. One year. We had been a guild for one year and, while to most our growth would seem slow, I was actually impressed about how many members we had been able to find. For a guild who, at first, had only been made up of mages who had be apart of dark guilds in their past, having three new members who didn't judge us on that was impressive. Eden had been the first and, as another dragon slayer, she was good support for the guild so we could take some more missions to save up on money that we would probably need once the dog got us some more new members.

On her note, we had gotten Del most recently and, having three dragon slayers in our guild was making it hard for us to keep ourselves out of the public eye. That was especially after the fiasco that Eden and Del had cleaned up in Hargeon. I had a feeling that we had Paralex to thank for making sure we stayed out of the public light.

The actual second member of the new trio, and my only teammate at this point, Melody, had been brought in by Anu and with how quiet her soul was when she walked in, though I could tell that she was excited, I knew that she had to be on my team. So, I hadn't hesitated in introducing myself to her and asking her to be on my team. However, I had only gone on a couple missions with her so far. I understood that she was still training around the valley of the guild to gain control of a takeover that she was born with; a siren take-over.

I had only seen the siren once, when the whole guild had been out on a camping trip last month clear out in Waas Forest. We had all spread out to gather necessary items from the area for camping; firewood, water, herbs, medicinal plants, and so on, when Richard had been attacked and knocked unconscious by an ogre who was fairly large for its species. Before the master could even give us orders to fight the thing, Melody had transformed.

The siren had torn the ogre to shreds before most of us could move and, if she had stopped there, then it wouldn't have been so bad. But, the siren had then continued to destroy the forest, seemingly searching for any other ogres that might attack. We all had to work together to knock out the siren so Melody was back in control.

We didn't stay in the woods after that night.

So, I knew that Melody was working even harder to gain a handle on her sirenic half and so I was out here, on what was supposed to be a solo mission at first, so that this would allow Melody the chance to train in the valley in peace without having to feel bad about holding me back. That was what her thoughts had been mainly about since the incident in Waas forest. It was honestly more depressing being at the guild with her while she worked her thoughts out than it was being out here.

"I'm back." Sawyer stated as he stopped at the edge of the woods we were near, and moved closer to the fire that I had set up for the lunch that Sawyer was supposed to be hunting while he was checking the perimeter. From the five rabbits that were hanging by his side, I could see that lunch was going to be filling.

"Did you find out anything about our mission while you were out there?" I asked him as he sat down at handed me a couple of the rabbits to help him clean them.

As the two of us started to work, he nodded. "Yeah." He sharpened his knife before he continued. "That dark guild we are supposed to be taking out seems to be setting up an area to prepare for a ritual. Couldn't tell what ritual they were planning from what they were doing, but from the way that they were acting they should be doing this ritual tonight."

"What makes you say that?" I questioned him back. There weren't a lot of signs that told a person when a ritual was taking place and, while tonight's full moon was a good time for a number of rituals, other factors about nights coming up might deter from using the power of a full moon.

Sawyer started to cut up his rabbit meat before he answered that. "I didn't think anything on it at first, but the people in town are pretty close to the stars and celestial things like that. I heard that tonight is supposed to be a red moon and that the townspeople say that tonight's the best night to ask their war god for strength. If they are going to do a ritual at any time, I think it's going to be tonight."

"That makes sense." Dark guilds, even nomadic ones like the one we had tracked down, were pretty predictable when thinking about what they were planning. They wanted power. That was how the Seis had operated and, according to Anu, that was how Death's Head Caucus had as well. They waited until times that would give them the most power. "It will probably be best to attack them tonight. We don't know what they are going to use as a sacrificial conduit and, if it is a person, we should probably be aware of that before we attack."

Sawyer seemed to agree with my statement and, after a few minutes, we both put our pieces of rabbit meat onto a skillet that we brought with us. Once that was cooking, I took out our comm lacrima for this mission and sent a pulse through it to contact the master. It didn't take long for it to connect and, once I could see the other side, I saw that the Master was doing paperwork, with Melody and Sorano helping. "How did the dog convince you two to help him with his paperwork?"

Plus, I was surprised that Melody was there. She must have not stayed out training as long as she thought she would. Hopefully, that meant that it had gone smoothly.

At the glare that Sorano sent through the lacrima, I could tell that she wasn't happy. "He made us a bet that if he was able to be disguised as a woman at Elgor's place without anyone recognizing him for the entire night last night, then we would help him do his work for all of today."

Ouch. Normally betting against Master Anu's transformation ability wasn't smart but, in that case, I might have done the same. While Master Anu was good, Elgor could usually tell when a person was really Anu in disguise. "Elgor didn't spot him?" Sawyer asked as he sat down next to me. Yeah, that was a surprise to me.

Anu's smirk, however, told me that something must have happened. "Elgor, luckily for me, had to leave for an emergency family meeting in Oak Town and left the running of the tavern last night to his assistant, Jason, who isn't so good at figuring out who I am."

While that smirk normally told me that Anu had planned for Elgor to be away, a family emergency was not something that even Anu could arrange at the last minute. So, Sorano was probably mad because fate had allowed Anu to win the bet and, from the small amount of paperwork that was on his desk, which was a miracle in itself, then for once in a lifetime, the Master's work was going to actually be completely caught up on.

"Fucking luck." Sorano muttered as she picked up another sheet of paper.

Our guild master, however, soon returned to business as he focused on Sawyer and me again. "So, how is the mission going?"

"We think that the dark guild is planning some sort of ritual tonight." Sawyer started. "We are going to wait until it gets dark tonight before taking them out, so we can help their sacrifice if it happens to be human."

Anu gave a thoughtful nod at that as Sawyer reported. "That would make sense, with the moon, and local beliefs of the area, then tonight would be a peak time to make a sacrifice to the gods." He then focused again. "Odds are leaning that the dark guild's sacrifice will probably be human. With these kinds of rituals, the more like you the sacrifice is, the more power that you will be able to garner from the god that you are sacrificing to."

At that point, to my surprise, Melody jumped in. "They might be performing Mad Beckoning of Blood Nightmare." We all stared at her in surprise before she elaborated...thankfully for my opinion of her. "When I was with Crypt Veil, we were at a black market auction and there was a group of dark mages who were going to do the spell. The timing and location sound like they described and it does require a human sacrifice that has not been sexually active within a few weeks of the ritual. It is also better if this sacrifice is a light mage since the ritual is giving the people performing it power in exchange for a worthy foe for the god of war that they are trying to appease. Light magic is a very powerful weapon. They also need an altar made of dragonwood and a dagger made from the horn of a minotaur." She then seemed to think. "If I remember correctly, the group from back then had been at that auction to purchase the altar. Dragonwood altars are extremely hard to come by."

"How do we stop this ritual once it gets going?" I asked. If this was the ritual that this dark guild was going to perform, then we needed to know when the best time to attack would be.

That caused my teammate to go into her thoughts again before she seemed to come up with the answer. "The best time to interrupt the spell is once the ritual leader begins to speak. His first bit of ritual speech is drawn out, since he is asking the god to accept the sacrifice, and that should be an opening for one of you to attack to cause a distraction while the other one frees their sacrifice."

"Sounds good." Sawyer agreed with Melody. I did too. Hopefully, this was the ritual that they were performing and we would be able to take them out quickly.

Before the line was hung up, the master looked at us seriously. "Make sure that you boys keep local damage to a minimum. We've been doing alright lately, but that little snafu in Waas pushed the books back a bit and it's going to take a few missions like the one you are on to get back to a comfortable spot."

I nodded at that, as did Sawyer, before I answered him. "You got it mutt. Just make sure that you aren't overworking my teammate too much."

"What about me?" Sorano yelled at us from the other side.

Sawyer let out a snicker. "You'll be just fine with whatever work Anu gives you. Just don't break a nail." He was teasing her at the end of that.

And she did not take the teasing well. "Why you little bastard when I get my hands on you I'll," I then cut her off by hanging up the lacrima.

While Sawyer tried to gather himself up, I took our now cooked food off of the fire and put it on travel dishes that we had. Once I handed Sawyer his plate, the two of us started to eat. We were going to need our energy for tonight.

"Hey man, I've been meaning to ask you something." Sawyer started as he took a bite of his rabbit.

After swallowing the piece I had in my mouth, I figured I would humor him. "What?"

He motioned to me before saying, "So far, you, Eden, and Sorano are the only ones that have teammates, though Sorano really shouldn't count since her teammate is Macbeth. What I want to know is; what is being on a team like with other people?"

How the hell was I supposed to know? "I don't know Sawyer." He looked at me confused so I realized that I was going to have to explain it to him "Yeah, Melody is a member of my team. But, I've only been on a couple of missions with her, and none of those were just us as a team. Plus, you were there for the Waas incident. She is really hesitant about going out on jobs because she is afraid that she'll lose control again. So, while I do have a team member, I still don't know what it's like to go out on missions as a team."

He then seemed to get what I was saying and, thankfully, the rest of the meal was had in silence. That was good because I wanted to think on how this mission was going to go. Even if we had the right ritual in our plans, we were going to have to be careful. While a part of me felt like these dark guild mages wouldn't be that difficult to deal with, I also knew to be more cautious than I used to. When Melody had first joined my team and said that she as working on controlling an aspect of her magic, I had thought that she just needed to work on a few spells. While I could tell she was powerful, I had no idea that she was hiding something that powerful inside her.

Now, I had to keep focused on the mission. Hopefully, everything would go alright tonight.

 **Narissa's 1st P.O.V.**

This wasn't good.

Right now, the moon was almost at full peak and, from how these creepy dark guild mages were gathering around this altar, I had a feeling that they were about to perform the ritual soon. Normally at this time, I would be gathering the power that I saved up to break out of my restraints and attack these idiots who had captured me. But, I was panicking this time around. Why? Well, it was because, for some reason, I hadn't been able to gather as much magic power as I normally could by this time. From what I was gauging, I wouldn't have enough magic power to break out of my bonds! I really didn't want to die!

"Looks like you are panicking now you bimbo." The fucking bastard who had brought me my food this morning taunted me.

"When I get out of here I'm going to come after you first." I hissed at him before I spat in his face.

While the bastard raised his hand to hit me, the person who I was assuming was his leader caught his wrist. "Hold your hand Martin." The leader growled. "We need the sacrifice as whole as possible so we can gain the full power that we deserve."

Martin glared at me before he growled and yanked his arm away from his leader. "The bitch better be worth the power." He then stalked away.

When the leader turned his gaze at me, I froze. It was so empty that I had no idea what to think. "You are a fighter and shall make an excellent sacrifice to Tyret. I believe we shall gain much power from you." I then flinched as he ran his surprisingly smooth fingers against my cheeks.

Thankfully, for my sanity, he moved his hand away before turning to his gathered followers. "Fucking asshole." I whispered to myself as I tried to fight against my restraints.

As I did, however, I heard the creepy leader start to address his pions. "My dear brothers and sisters, tonight is the night which we have been preparing. For, this night, we ascend to heights of power that shall not be overcome!" I continued to struggle as a cheer rang out from the crowd. Shit! I had to get out of this.

"The dagger, Urban." Fucking Martin seemed too happy about giving the minotaur horn dagger to Urban.

The leader took the dagger before turning to me. Oh shit. "Oh Tyret, great god of war, I beseech you as a humble servant. Grant us the power to raise above all that try to obstruct our way of life. You, who hold such grace, power, and ferocity, we praise your ever-glorious name. Rain down your merciful blood into this sacrifice so we may drink of it to obtain a portion of your immortal power. In return," Oh fucking shit! He was holding the knife in a way that would not be good for my continued health. "we offer to you this warrior of light as a sacrifice to battle with your might on the eternal battlefields. Please, take this offering as augh!"

I flinched, as did everyone else, as a blur suddenly appeared in front Urban and slammed into him, throwing the cult leader back. As the image started to come into focus, Martin ran forward but the still blur punched that asshole in the face and threw him back. "I got them. Get her free!" The guy who I could now see said to someone before running at the group of dark mages.

While I was still surprised at the sudden help, though I couldn't actually comprehend a thought until I felt a set of hands pulling the rope that was binding me away from my flesh. "Don't move." The maroon-haired guy said as he seemed to focus on the rope. To my surprise, the rope started to dissolve away in poison. Sweet! Once the rope was free, I held out my hands, which were restrained in the magic restricting cuffs, and the guy looked at them before looking to his ally. "Hey, Sawyer! Did you find a key on the leader?"

Sawyer? So that was the blur's name. Said blur seemed to take a break and ran back to the unconscious leader of the dark guild before he said, "Here, catch!" This Sawyer person then threw the key before returning on attacking the guild.

The maroon mage caught the key and undid my cuffs, which was a huge relief, before I stood up and massaged my wrists. "You alright?" The mage who freed me asked.

Feeling a surge of magic energy come into me, I nodded before saying, "You bet. Now, I have a little bastard to pay back. You might want to step back a little."

He raised an eyebrow but got clear. That was good. Wouldn't want to accidentally hurt the people that just helped me. Focusing on my magic, I smirked as I started to grow larger and larger. Besides light magic, I was also decently skilled with using titan magic. Made revenge against these damn dark guilds who tried to sacrifice me that much sweeter.

"Hey, bastard!" I yelled at the one called Martin, since the creepy leader Urban was still out cold. He turned to me and yelped as the color seemed to drain from his face. "Marco!" He screamed at that and tried to run away. I, in turn, shook my head before saying, "No, no, no! You're supposed to say polo!" I then slammed the back of my hand against the pathetic dark mage, causing him to go flying and hit a tree before slumping to the ground unconscious.

After that, the fight seemed to go pretty quickly with the three of us working together. Once we were done, I helped the two of them tie up the mages and, as the one called Sawyer called the rune knights, the one that I didn't have a name for yet turned to me before saying, "You sure that you are alright?"

I nodded at that before saying, "Yeah I'm good. The name's Narissa Odir, light mage and titan mage." I then held my hand out to him.

He looked at my hand for a second before he took it and said, "The name's Erik. Second generation poison slayer, captain of team Poison Song. We are a part of the guild called Jackal Fang."

Jackal Fang? What kind of guild was that? I hadn't heard of it before. "Jackal Fang? What kind of guild are you guys?"

The one called Sawyer then came over to us so he answered. "It's a magic guild. Our master asked us, along with three others to start the guild, and so we did in 785. The name's Sawyer, by the way, vehicle and slowing mage, for now a leader of one of the teams at Jackal Fang, though it doesn't have a name yet."

Really? Well, this was a new guild for me to explore and, since they had just saved my bacon, I guess that I could go with them and see what it is about. "Well, I just so happen to be shopping for a guild. Do you guys mind if I go with you to your guild?"

Erik shook his head before saying, "Do what you want. We're going to camp for the rest of the night before we head to the guild. If we leave early enough tomorrow, we should get there by noon."

And so, that was how I came to travel with those two guys to their guild. When we arrived at their guild, I realized that they seemed to be the dream guild that I hoped to find at Fairy Tail, with how close they all were. It made me so happy to finally have a guild that I could call home. As of this day, April 10th, 786, I was a member of the Jackal Fang guild and I couldn't have been happier. I ended up joining team Poison Song because both Melody and Erik seemed like they could teach me a lot. Hopefully, we would be able to go out on missions together soon. There were definitely more dark guilds out there that I had to take out.

* * *

 **Anu: Hey, what are you doing?**

 **Narissa: *smirks* I am simply doing what I should as a member of the guild.**

 **Anu: *curious* What is that?  
**

 **Narissa: *smacks Del and Eden* Making sure my fellow guild members behave.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! Sorry this took so long to get out but the holidays have been crazy, and they still are. I'll be out of town for a bit so this is the only update you will see until next weekend at least. It may be longer. But, until then, I hope this tides you over. Erik now has another member of his team, a light and titan mage, and that should create a fun atmosphere later on. Not a lot to say about Narissa I think, but if you have any questions shoot me a PM and I'll get those questions answered.**

 **Next chapter is going to have a very interesting mage appear and I hope that you guys will learn to like the mage as much as I do.**

 **Speaking of next chapter, however, here are the titles for the next couple of chapters.**

 **Chapter 6: A Demon's Pledge**

 **Chapter 7: Monuments to Time**

 **Chapter 8: ...(next time of course)**

 **Well, that's all for now. I hope you have enjoyed. Leave a review, even to say hi, if you would like. Otherwise, I'll see you all next time. TTYL! *planning so much with so little time***


	7. A Demon's Pledge

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Anu: Well, this is a very interesting situation.**

 **Melody: *nods* I think I agree with you for once master.**

 ***both look at Narissa and Del playing tug-of-war with a bone***

* * *

Chapter 6: A Demon's Pledge

 **May 23, 786**

 **Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

While I knew that pride could be a dangerous thing for a person to have, I couldn't help but allow myself to have just that as I looked over the records of the guild. So many successful missions under our belts, though we were just over a year old, and barely any of those had major damage as an after-effect of our intervention. We were asked to come help with many problems that the places we had visited before needed help with.

And, I really couldn't take much of the credit for the way my guild members acted. I was incredibly lucky to have gotten mages as I had in my guild who could control their magic while still getting the job that needed to be done completed. When this guild had first officially started, back last April when the paperwork had been accepted, I hadn't been sure that I would be able to gather many mages outside of the past Seis members for our family. Eden had been a surprise, as had Melody and Del. From there, we had also gotten Narissa and, just with those four new members, I felt like our guild...our family really had the chance to grow and become closer with each other.

Plus, this growth wasn't happening from the little bit of advertising that I had started to put up in Dawn City. No, this growth was due to fate and, in the cases of Melody and Narissa, because we at Jackal Fang had been out doing jobs and were all looking for people to join us who could look past who we used to be.

In my heart, I felt like Master Makarov would be proud of the guild master that I had become. It still hurt so much to know that he was missing, vanished without a trace. A rumor that I picked up said that they were attacked on Tenrou Island, the island of Fairy Tail, by the black dragon Acnologia. I truly hoped that wasn't the case. Fairy Tail, though it had been too bright for me at the time I was a member, had become a guiding light that I tried to work my way towards. With everything that I have built with Jackal Fang, I hope that one day I can show Makarov what I have accomplished thanks to his trust in me back when I didn't trust anyone completely.

"Master Anu,"

I pulled myself out of my thoughts when I heard Melody's voice. Thanks to her sound magic, she didn't have to be right outside my door and could work in the bar while communicating with me. It allowed us to have a very efficient way of communication here at the guild without yelling all the time. "Yes, Melody?" I responded to her.

She had gone to Dawn City in the early hours of the morning and, given that it was only two o'clock, I was surprised that she was back already. "I finished up my shopping for supplies early and I have brought Paralex with me. He caught up with me at the market and asked that I bring him here to see you. He is at the bar right now waiting for you."

Paralex was here? I knew that he had been trying to make time to come and visit the guild and now I was glad that my friend had finally been able to have the opportunity. So, I quickly stood up and grabbed an extra bottle of my whiskey that I had shipped from Clover before making my way down the hall toward the stairs.

When I arrived at the stairs, I smiled when I saw that Eden, Del, and Sawyer were bombarding Paralex with questions. Most of the guild had yet to meet Paralex, since either Melody, Erik, Macbeth, or I handled personal tasks that Equinox had to offer since they usually required more finesse then the other members seemed to show as of yet or, as in Sorano's case, was still trying to get a good handle on how to use their magic.

"Anu my friend," I locked eyes with Paralex as I walked down the stairs and he addressed me. "your guild members are just as curious as I would expect with you as their master." He then motioned to the four mages currently near him, which included Melody, before he smirked. "I'm also relieved that your hunt for mages has still left you the only mangy mutt out of you all."

I sat next to him at the bar and motioned to Melody to give us two empty glasses before I shot back at him. "I think you and I are mangy enough for this entire area Paralex." Once Melody put the glasses down, I opened my bottle of whiskey and put a little in both of our glasses before I put the top back on and took a sip. "I am glad that you could come out and see us my friend."

In return, Paralex nodded. "As am I. It does me good to see how lively your guild has become Anu. What you all have accomplished here would make all of the popular guilds jealous...and impressed." I knew that, at the last line, he was implying that he felt like Makarov would approve of my guild. "I guess it was a good thing that I convinced the mayor that your guild would be much more beneficial to Dawn City then the arena that he wanted to build."

Laughter escaped me at that before taking another drink of my whiskey before saying, "Thank you for that Paralex, though I don't think that this valley would have been a very secure place for an arena of any kind. Vulcans run rampant through here and we have to be on guard when we leave."

Paralex laughed at that in return. "That is true my friend. Even if the arena was built, the city would have to hire mages to constantly keep the Vulcans at bay...and now they get it for free and a guild to represent them." The others had moved away from the two of us, even Melody, and I found myself curious as a thoughtful look came onto Paralex's face. "As much as I tease you Anu, I couldn't be happier that you started this guild. While you have made changes in each and every member you have brought in, I can see that they have also changed you for the better my friend."

Paralex and I hadn't exactly met under the best of circumstances and I had definitely been in a rough spot at the time. It was good to hear that I was improving to him. "Thank you. I can only give credit to that to my guild members. With all of them around, I had no choice but to change for the better."

I then put some more whiskey in both of our glasses and he took a sip before he sat down his glass and a business look came onto his face. "Anu, as much as I have enjoyed this social visit, that is not the only reason that I am here. I had Melody bring me here for more than just seeing you."

"Isn't that enough?" I teased at him.

A smirk ghosted on his face before he nodded. "Yes, but this time it is more than just that." Paralex then pulled up a paper that looked like what one would send to the magic council to get an official request put in. I could see the denied symbol on the corner of the paper and knew the council has rejected this. "I have a friend that lives outside of Oak Town and they have asked me to garner help in investigating a shady group of mages that have been hanging around lately. They sent a request into the Council to get official help, but it was denied since my friend and Thefis have clashed a number of times."

"Not hard to do with that moron." I commented on that, still remembering that Thefis was the only one who had been against me using the five previous Seis members to start my guild.

Paralex smirked at that slightly before continuing. "Since I am the leader of Equinox, an organization that is completely neutral, I can't garner an official or unofficial request. However, between the two of us as friends, I felt like sharing this information with you. What you wish to do with that information now is completely up to you." He then threw back the rest of his whiskey before standing and smiling. "I have enjoyed this visit with you Anu. I hope that I may have more time to come and visit again."

"Same here my friend." I responded to Paralex before he left.

Once the doors were closed behind him, I looked at the paper in my hands and studied the information more. Oak Town has been the center of a number of shady dealings, ever since the previous guild Phantom Lord was stationed there, and I knew that they could use the help with this situation. The people of that town knew how to spot suspicious and possibly dangerous people very quickly.

I already knew who I was going to send on this mission so I turned to Eden and motioned her over to me. While she wouldn't be one of the ones going on this mission, she would have a better idea on where the two I wanted to take this would be at.

 **Sorano's 1st P.O.V.**

"Are you alright Sorano?" Michael asked me as he and Cecilia sat next to me on my bed.

With a glance at my First, I nodded before laying back against my bed. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about everything. I am so happy that you both contracted to me, but I still feel like I'm not worthy to have you both with me."

I flinched slightly as Cecilia gave me her own form of 'punishment' with a tap in the middle of my forehead before she spoke. "Sorano, I believe that it is the other way around. You have been through so much in such a short span of time, and have had trouble with a different form of contract magic in the past, and Michael and I suddenly appear to you in a bright light and say that a rare contract magic has been your destiny since you were born. If I was in your place, I would have rejected us because we were not there when you needed us and you had to rely on other magic."

That caused me to sit up and hug Cecilia. "I don't blame you for that. I'm just glad that both of you are with me now." I then looked between the two of them as a question suddenly came to me. "Michael, Cecilia; I know that you two are newer mythic species to the whole rotation that you explained to me, but why didn't you contract to me before. Back in the Tower of Heaven before I discovered celestial magic?"

Michael took over for Cecilia as he looked like he was struggling to answer. "We wanted to my angel, and technically there is no set in stone rule about when we are allowed to contract. But, for mythics, it has been a long tradition to wait until a mage has come into maturity before a First should contract. It is supposed to allow your brains to prepare for the peculiarities that having mythics can bring. By the time you hit maturity, though, you already had your celestial magic."

"And since I had a magic already, you couldn't contract with me." I finished Michael's explanation for him. That made sense. I couldn't imagine how I would have reacted when I was ten or eleven if I suddenly had an angel come to me in a bright light. Even though I had experienced a lot of pain and hardships without having them, I knew that it was for the best.

Michael suddenly moved so he was kneeling in front of me before he continued to speak. "Sorano, no matter what has happened in the past, or what will happen in the future, you are our angel. Cecilia and I are always excited to have an opportunity to work with you and help you grow."

I nodded at that and stood up before saying, "And hopefully we can take another mission soon. Macbeth was talking about taking a team mission once he rested from the one he got back from a few days ago with Richard. That should be a lot of fun and it would give us time to practice."

"And that's what I came to talk with you about."

"Shit!" I screamed when I suddenly heard the voice behind me. But, almost as soon as I yelped, I realized who it was. "Damnit Macbeth how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?" I snapped at my teammate.

He gave me an unamused look before he shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Anu had Eden come to wake me up. Says he wants to talk with you and me about taking an 'off-the-books' mission."

I let out a snort at that as he said 'off-the-books'. We were members of Jackal Fang and that meant over half of our missions were technically 'off-the-books'. "Aren't a lot of the missions we take those kinds?"

Macbeth, in return, shrugged at that. "According to what Eden reported, this is even more off the books than normal." He then motioned out my door with his head before saying, "So, let's go see what the mutt has planned with this."

How could we have something even more off the books than we normally did? This didn't make any sort of sense but, since we had to go see Anu for the mission, I had a feeling that he would explain more. "Alright let's get going." I then stood, causing Cecilia and Michael to return to the pocket dimension that, according to them, existed in my soul that was a place for a contracted mythic to stay, before I followed Macbeth downstairs to the bar where Anu was sitting.

"So, what are we looking at?" Macbeth asked as we stood in front of him.

In return, Anu handed out what looked like a pre-request form, something a person would send into the Council to get official approval before he answered. "Paralex came to visit me with information about a request that a friend of his couldn't get through the Council due to bad interactions with Thefis." I rolled my eyes at that. I'm pretty sure that, out of the paperwork that I had helped Anu with before, at least half of it had been sent by that man. "Since he is the leader of Equinox, though, Paralex can't officially garner a request and, since this isn't coming to us through normal channels, you may not even get paid for doing this."

"That's what you meant by more 'off-the-books' than normal." I commented at that.

He nodded before continuing. "Correct." A look of slight guilt passed over Anu's face before he continued. "Oak Town has been a central hub for shady dealings ever since Phantom Lord was the controlling guild there. I should know since I used to be apart of those dealings." He then paused for a moment before shaking his head. "I would like this looked at and, if you don't receive payment from the original client, then I will personally pay you for the job."

I shook my head at how idiotic our master could sound. With a look from Macbeth, he looked like he was thinking along the same, I answered our mutt of a master. "Anu, don't sweat it. We'll look into this and keep you informed." I then turned to Macbeth. "Well, let's get going before he starts begging more." I then waved a hand back toward the Master as Macbeth and I left.

" _Anu seems to be taking this mission personally."_ Michael commented to me mentally through the link we shared.

" _It's a dark part of his past. He probably wants to help them however he can."_ I then mentally sighed before adding, " _If anyone I ever hurt in the past sent out a request for help, I would want to go and pay back some of the damage that I caused, payment be damned."_ I then continued to walk next to Macbeth as we headed through the valley toward the train station. Once we got there, it would be a quick trip to Oak Town on the rail line.

The trip went smoothly and peacefully, which was a nice change from my past few missions with Eden and Del. Worst idea ever to go along with the two of them on a mission back to back. After about five hours on the train, and about four walking total, we arrived in Oak Town at eleven o'clock at night. Too late to go and talk to the originator of the request, so we went to the local hotel and checked in. Once that was done, the two of us walked up to our room and got ready for bed.

After the door was locked completely, I laid down on my bed and, once Macbeth seemed to relax in his, I decided to ask him about our plan. "How are we going to figure out what is wrong here?"

It was a couple of minutes before my guildmate responded. "Easy. We just find a group of people who act like," his own yawn interrupted him. "...like we used to. We'll go see this Vidian person tomorrow morning. Now, let's get some sleep. I didn't get enough today."

The entire guild had made it their goal to help Macbeth regulate to a normal amount of sleep time so he wasn't always so tired. We had made some real progress and now he only slept ten hours out of twenty-four instead of the fifteen he used to. He probably got eight hours of sleep total for today and so that was still not enough for now.

"Fine," I started as I got comfortable. "I'll make sure we are up by six so we can see Vidian as soon as we can."

I smirked as a groan was Macbeth's response to that. I wouldn't make him get up that early. Probably eight to make sure he didn't need to take any naps during our mission tomorrow. " _Goodnight Michael. Goodnight Cecilia."_ I mentally wished my mythics goodnight.

" _Good night._ " Both responded to me before I started to relax. It wasn't long before I found myself drifting into unconsciousness.

 **May 24th, 786**

 **Macbeth's 1st P.O.V.**

Something was wrong. As I came out of sleep, I felt myself go on high alert. It wasn't for anything I could see since I hadn't opened my eyes yet, but it was for the fact that I was waking up on my own. Normally, one of my guildmates would be the ones pulling me from my sleep. But, right now, I was actually waking up naturally.

Once I finally cracked my eyes open, I peeked at the alarm clock and saw that it was nine o'clock. Three hours later than what Sorano said she would wake me up at. That didn't sound like her. She was teasing, true but she wouldn't have teased by much. If she had a certain time that she wanted to get up, her mythics would help her wake up at that time. I grew even more worried when I glanced at Sorano's bed and saw that it was empty. She wouldn't have left me alone for this mission since it was iffy as it was, and I was starting to get an even worse feeling than I had before.

"Oh….my head." I sat up out of bed and moved at the sound of the familiar groan. It wasn't a sound that I was one-hundred percent used to hearing but I knew the voice. When I finally saw the other side of Sorano's bed, I saw Michael strewn across the ground, wings folded awkwardly due to how close space was between the bed and the wall.

When the angel started to get up, I moved to him. "What happened? Where's Sorano?" I asked the mythic. With his connection, he should be able to tell me where she was. But, the very fact that he was not with her was worrying. Ever since they contracted, Michael was very rarely out of eyesight of Sorano, something Cecilia explained was the reaction of a First contract. They were the closest with the mage and felt protective.

I helped the angel sit on the edge of the bed before he finally seemed to focus and answered. "We were all asleep when I suddenly felt compelled to come out into this plane. It felt like Sorano was being attacked and, for some reason, Cecilia wasn't reacting at all. Once I was out here, though, some non-physical force knocked me unconscious. It was light out when I was knocked out, but not terribly so. It had to be early morning when it happened." He then stood up in a panic while continuing. "We have to find them!" He then swayed a little on his feet.

Helping to steady the angel, I nodded. "Right, but you needed to take it slow. Plus, if we are going to go outside, you should probably hide your wings. Don't need to make even more of a commotion than we already have."

Michael seemed to calm down slightly at my words and, with a flash of light, his wings were not visible anymore. I knew that he had cast a simple illusion spell to hide them from plain view. That was good. Once he seemed ready to move, I led him out of the hotel and, not so much to my surprise, it seemed like all of the men in the town were gathered in the square. Looks like Sorano wasn't the only woman to go missing.

"Where is my wife?"

"What happened to my daughter?"

"My sister is missing! What are we doing about it?"

I heard all of these yells, though I couldn't tell who exactly said them, as I led Michael to the fountain that the crowd seemed to be gathering at. Standing on the edge of the fountain was a short but thin man, maybe five foot three if I was being generous, and, as weird as it seemed, he seemed to be in charge around here since everyone was looking to him for answers.

"Everyone please calm down!" This short man answered. "We are all confused about what happened. But, don't worry. I am expecting mages coming from a guild soon that can help."

So, this must be Vidian. Since he called me out, sort of, I figured it was best to let him know I was here. "If you're Vidian, then I'm here to help."

The crowd went quiet almost immediate and they parted so I had a direct line of sight of Vidian. "I am, and who are you?" He seemed to ask this cautiously.

So, I showed him my guild mark while answering him. "I am Macbeth, a member of the Jackal Fang mage guild. My guildmate who came with me, Sorano, has gone missing as seems the rest of the women in this town."

"Not all of them." We all turned at the sound of the male voice to see a young man walking next to who seemed to be the only woman left in town. When she appeared in front of us, she made some signals with her hands and it was then that I realized that she was deaf. "My name is Carson and this is my sister Heidi. She was born deaf so she uses sign language."

This Heidi was born deaf. Maybe only those women who could hear were taken. If that was true, then that would disprove Sawyer's theory that Sorano was deaf whenever Anu asked for help with paperwork. Of course, I was pretty sure we were all deaf at times when it came to that. When Heidi continued to sign, frantically, I felt confused. "Now what is she saying?" I asked Carson.

The brother seemed to follow his sister's movements before he looked confused. "Our other sister, who lives with a group of women on the edge of town, is also deaf but she seems to have been taken as well." Guess he didn't know that his other sister was missing as well.

But, this revelation threw my idea out the window. How was one deaf woman not affected but another was? Something wasn't adding up but, with Sorano and Cecilia missing, then Michael and I had to hurry up and get to them before something happened. So, I turned to Vidian and held out the paper from the denied pre-request. "My guildmate and I came to accept your mission. Something tells me that this is the mission. If you don't want it to be an actual mission that is fine, but we will still help you."

"No, you came this far and you are helping us. This is a mission and I will keep Jackal Fang in mind to send missions directly to." Vidian responded before he motioned to the main gate. "The shady characters I mentioned in the request hang out in the woods about half a mile outside of town. The guard at the gate should be able to help you with better directions once you arrive. Thank you."

I simply nodded at the man before leading Michael toward the gate. Once we arrived at the gate, the guard pointed us in the direction that the shady characters hung out at and, according to him, he was semi-conscious during the time when the women were 'taken' and he said that they seemed to leave town in a trance in that same direction.

With those directions, Michael and I started to move toward the location. However, as we moved, I started to feel worried about Sorano and Cecilia. Sorano was a strong-willed woman and for a mind-controlling spell to get her to leave, and leave without taking Michael with her, was something that had to be powerful or highly concentrated. "Don't worry about my angel and Cecilia." Michael suddenly spoke, as if he was in my thoughts like he normally was in Sorano's. "Cecilia can fight control effects after a while and, since she is probably with Sorano, then she will be fine. Plus, once Sorano gains conscious awareness, I can go directly to her if she is in danger and help her and, in proxy, the other hostages as well."

While it seemed like an obvious answer from the mythic, it did make me feel a little better about this. I knew that both Michael and Cecilia were able to fight, and years of being around Sorano told me that the mage could fight as well. This would be alright and, once we freed the women, we could get our reward and get back to the guild so I could take a nap. All of this stress was making me tired.

It wasn't long after that when Michael and I found ourselves entering a clearing and I had to stop in surprise. All of the women who were missing seemed to be in the clearing and, while only Sorano and Cecilia were restrained, all of them had a far-off look to them that told me that they were under some sort of hypnosis. Once the two of us were up to Sorano and Cecilia, I made sure that they were both alright before I turned to Michael. "Can you snap them out of this?"

There was a burning anger in his eyes, probably from his contractor being attacked like this, before he nodded and took out his sword. "While Cecilia has a more power form of light magic that I use, a quick flash spell should awaken everyone here from the spell." There was a slight growl in his voice that, since he was an angel, sounded very unnatural from him. Yes, whoever did this had better avoid Michael. Making an angel growl in anger probably wasn't a good thing. I didn't know nearly as much about angels as Sorano did but making and angel growl didn't seem good.

I tensed as Michael let light magic gather around his sword before he slashed it out in a circle. Almost as soon as the light hit each woman, the seemed to come out of their daze. "Everyone get back to town!" I flinched as Sorano yelled that. Guess she came out of her trance quickly.

It didn't take the women gathered long to react to Sorano's voice and, as Michael freed Sorano, the women made a beeline back toward the city. "Sorano, are you alright?" Michael asked as she stood on her own.

She nodded but I saw a look of urgency cross her face. "Yeah, I'm fine. But we have to get out of here. This is a,"

"Trap." I finished for her as a group of what looked like forty mages came out of the woods in front of us and started to surround us. Well fuck. This wasn't good. While each of their power levels wasn't worrisome on their own, I could sense that they would give us a hard time working together. And that was especially since Sorano and Cecilia had just come out from an influence spell that one of them just seemed to cast.

One that seemed to be the leader walked forward and smirked. "You know, I was pretty upset when that little influence spell we cast was broken. That was especially since one of the women we got was none other than the ex-dark mage from the Oracion Seis called Angel. An actual angel with her was a bonus. But, with another ex-dark mage from the Oracion Seis, the most feared Midnight, and another angel to boot, we'll all be asked to join the top dark guilds rising."

I tensed as he smirked. This wasn't a good situation but I knew that we had to pull through. I wasn't going to let all the work we had done to get this far after we accepted Anu's offer to go to waste because these idiots wanted to make a name for themselves in the wrong circles.

 **Tolax's 1st P.O.V.**

This was an interesting situation. That much I knew when I had watched the women from the town being led to this clearing like I had heard this dark mages plan out the night before. I was a solo mage, not aligned with a guild, and I found myself going from place to place to hunt down dark guilds or, in the case of these mages, dark guild wannabees. I had let it get this far, so far, because I had been curious if the influence mage could really cast a spell that could mass-hypnotise the women of the town to come to them while knocking out the men in town. It had and, at first, I was impressed with the magical ability. Not so much what it was being used for, but the ability was impressive.

That was even more so when I saw the woman who had once been called Angel, a member of one of the top dark guilds known as the Oracion Seis, along with an actual angel. My magic had confirmed that much. Seeing that this spell had drawn these women in, I had held off in rescuing them to rethink our strategy in defeating this group. If they could take control of a woman as powerful as she was, then this fight might be more trouble than we thought.

But, then the arrival of another mage who used to be called Midnight, and who was the second strongest member of the dark guild behind the guild master. Plus, he had brought another angel with him as well. His arrival had caused me to hold on before jumping in. When the angel had taken out the influence spell with a simple flash spell, I realized that the dark mages weren't as impressive as I thought they were going to be.

But, I listened as the dark mages spilled out their plans to who they identified were ex-dark mages. When had that happened? Honestly, I was also slightly surprised that the two supposed 'ex' dark guild mages where even here. Last I heard, they were still in prison under the watch of the Council. The news would have blown up with the story of an escape by them or if they had been released. So, my curiosity had held me back.

" _Our curiosity you mean? I'm pretty sure your internal thoughts should be including me as well."_ Sebastian, the demon inside my soul, spoke to me.

My own brand of magic was known as demon contract magic. It was pretty much how it sounded. I would make a contract with a demon who approached me asking for a contract. In exchange for use of their power and, at times, themselves, I would provide a host body so the demon could stay in this plane from the Dark World, for as long as I was alive. It wasn't the normal contract that demons made, and I had been lucky that Sebastian had contracted me when he did. Otherwise, I would have died.

But, those were thoughts for another time.

" _Yes Sebastian, our curiosity. You seem to be pickier than normal."_ I taunted him. Just because we shared the same soul now, didn't mean that we didn't take jabs at each other.

As the dark mages explained that their influence spell had effected every woman who had ever experienced sound before, I realized that was why the one woman in town, who had been born deaf, was not affected while her sister, who had lost her hearing when she was thirteen, had been affected. Sebastian seemed ready to comment on the situation. " _Do you plan on helping the two called Sorano and Macbeth?"_

I looked down as the dark mages continued to say that their goal was to attract light guild mages and take them out to prove themselves to dark guilds. Honestly a really lackluster plan for dark mages. I doubted that even middle-tier dark guilds would pay them a second thought if this was all they could come up with, no matter what their power levels were. While some of the dark mages down below seemed to have a more than average amount of power, I could also sense that they were not at the same level as the two that they were facing.

However, there were only two of them and, even as powerful as they were, Sorano seemed to be weakened from the spell that she was under and that would hinder their abilities. " _I'll see how they are able to hold up for the first wave of attacks. After that, I'll jump in if I am needed."_

I felt an accepting pulse from Sebastian but neither of us said another word, even to each other, as the fighting started. Even with the odds stacked against them, I found myself impressed with how well Sorano and Macbeth were working together. It was obvious, once the fighting started, that the angels must be a part of Sorano's magic. With that, Sorano and Macbeth were always checking on the other when they had breaks in their fight and their magic seemed to be aimed to knock out their opponents and not kill them.

But, I could tell after the first fifteen that the two ex-dark guild mages were tiring. I could sense that there would be a regroup on both sides but, after that, they wouldn't be able to have the energy combined to take on their enemies. " _So, I am assuming from your current line of thought that we are going to be interfering?"_

" _Yes."_ I answered my demon. Once I did, I could feel the smirk come off of his face. While Sebastian understood that I was a light mage and I wouldn't do dark activities, which was part of the reason he agreed to contract with me in the first place, he did love going into battle and making it as damaging as he possibly could and, against dark mages, I allowed him to do just that.

I focused as the remaining twenty dark mages regrouped as Sorano and Macbeth, along with the two angels, did. I could see that Sorano was tiring due to being under the influence spell and I knew that the time to make myself known was coming soon.

"So, you aren't as easy to take down as the white-haired bimbo made you seem." The leader stated, causing a growl to come from the angels and the white-haired mage in question. I knew that, if an angel growled, they were not happy in the slightest. Must be a sort of contract magic that bound them together for them to react to the insult to Sorano like that. "But, you won't last another round. Surrender now and we'll let you live."

Well, that looked about as good of an opening as I...we were going to get. "Funny," I started out loud as I jumped from the branch I had been standing on and landing before walking so I was facing the dark mages and in front of Sorano and Macbeth. "I was about to say the same thing to you."

The assumed leader of this group didn't take my interruption well. "Who the fuck are you supposed to be?"

Instead of answering the leader, I turned to the two mages that I was defending before smiling. "I must say, that watching you two fight together was impressive. But, I do have a burning question that I must ask you. Are you truly light mages now?"

Both stared at me in what looked like surprise for a few seconds before Sorano answered me. "Yeah. we were the first members that our guild master recruited for his guild that we decided to call Jackal Fang."

" _Not a name I've heard on rotation. I think we should talk to them some more after this."_ Sebastian commented.

I mentally nodded at that. " _I agree with you."_ Then, I nodded at the two mages. "I'm afraid I haven't heard of that guild before but, from how you have been acting since I started watching you all, I'll take your word on it for now. After these idiots are taken care of, might I talk with you more about it?"

Macbeth was the one who answered me. "Sure. We aren't the most advertised guild out there so it's not surprising you haven't heard about us."

"Hey! I'm talking to you light-mage bastards! Are you listening to me?" The leader of the group of dark mages yelled at us.

I slightly turned my head and threw him an annoyed look before turning forward to face them. But, before I started, I had to make sure that the two behind me knew that I was going to take care of the rest. "You two just sit back and recover. We've got this from here."

" _Glad you added me this time."_ Sebastian smirked.

A nod was what I gave him in return before looking at the mages in front of me. "Sorry, I tend to disregard those that aren't worth my attention. But," I then smirked while bringing my hands up so they were spread to my sides, like I was hanging on an invisible cross. "I do have a friend that would love to pay attention to you dark mages." I then focused on my magic energy as the dark mages started to charge at me. Once I felt like I had the magic power to perform it, I smiled. " _Daemonium anima commutation."_ Sebastian and I spoke as one as I brought my hands together in a clap.

The spell resonated in the air and I felt the normal shift as my appearance changed while Sebastian took over as the conscious side of our body. As I was moved to the back of my mind, I could feel my body shift to that of what Sebastian looked like. My brown hair was shortened slightly and groomed a little better while being dyed black, my lightly tanned body was turning to a pale white, my violet eyes began to burn with a red color. Also, my casual clothes turned into a black coat-tail outfit that Sebastian loved. Finally, and most noticeably, the marking scar that normally stretched from the middle of my right eyebrow, across the top of my nose, and ended in the middle of my left cheek, vanished to have Sebastian's flawless skin on his face.

A smirk flickered on my face, though Sebastian stayed neutral, as looks of fear came on the dark mages in front of me. While I wasn't a guild mage, I had heard the stories circling about me since I did focus on dark guilds and taking them out. "You...you're…" The leader tried to speak. But, it wasn't surprising that he couldn't.

"You know, I almost feel insulted that you seemed so ready to talk with my friend, but you can't seem to get a word out around me." I then felt Sebastian's smirk as he continued to speak. "No matter. This shall be fun nevertheless."

And at that Sebastian was almost a blur even to me, and I was inside of him. While he didn't kill the mages, he made sure that they were all incapacitated before tying them up. Once they were all restrained, he moved back to the two mages. " _You had better explain my magic and your role in it before they sick one of those angels on you. That kind of magic is not fun to deal with."_

" _Of course."_ Sebastian responded mentally to me before he spoke to the two in front of us. "I believe that we have some explaining to do. My name is Sebastian and I am a demon that is contracted to the mage that I replaced, who is called Tolax Valkeri. His magic is called demon contract magic and it allows him to contract to me, allowing him full access to my power and, in some cases like this, even allow me to come out and fight when necessary. I shall allow him to come out now so you may talk about this guild of yours." I then felt him gathering my magic power and, once he raised his hands, I knew it was time. " _Daemonium anima commutation."_

Once I was the one in full control, I looked to them and smiled before saying, "Since Sebastian introduced me, and I heard your names when you said them to them, we can skip the introductions. Is there somewhere you would like to talk privately?"

Macbeth looked at me and nodded before saying, "Once we meet up with the mayor for our reward, we have tickets to head back toward Dawn City. If you want to join us there, we can talk about what you want to know on the train ride back."

I was planning on heading in that direction anyway so this was a good idea. "That sounds alright. Let's take these dark mages back to town so we can make the train."

And that was what we did. After they received their reward from the mayor, the three of us made our way to the train station and, not long after, we were off toward Dawn City and they were filling me in on their guild. As they told us more and more, Sebastian and I both felt like this was the kind of guild that would suit us quite well.

So, once we had stopped in Dawn City, I had expressed my wish to join their guild and they had agreed and led me into the mountains. Once we arrived at their guild, which was hewn out of one of the mountains, I was greeted by a strange assortment of mages, and an even stranger guild master who must have just been pranked if the pink paint in the hair was anything to go by. He inducted us as members of his guild and Sebastian and I had decided to join Macbeth's and Sorano's team and, while we were at it, we decided to call the team Dark Angel. The two of them agreed and, as I looked at the wall above my bed, I smiled. From what I could see of the members around me, I knew that we wouldn't regret being a part of this guild.

* * *

 **Sorano: Holy shit we have a demon in the guild now.**

 **Tolax: *smirks* Well, someone had to outshine the light those angels of yours put off. I should do alright for now. But, I think we might need some more dark influence to balance out the light. Macbeth and I are not enough to completely balance everything out.**

 **Narissa: *points to Anu* What about the dog?**

 **Authoress: *smirks* His magic isn't dark based, no matter how bad he was in the past, and dark humor does not count in that equation.**

 **Sawyer: *laughs* Damn Authoress! Just as blunt as ever!**

 **Anu: *pouts in corner***

* * *

 **AN: And that is all for now folks! You have officially met the Demon of Jackal Fang. Tolax (and Sebastian of course) are going to be one of the S class mages, along with Macbeth (who is one already) and Melody (who is one as well). In total, there will be six in the guild by the time that they meet Fairy Tail (which is a long time in coming). Anyways, Tolax and Sebastian are a lot of fun to get to know. It should be a lot of fun to use them in upcoming chapters! (especially Sebastian with his...sadistic tendencies).**

 **Anyways, here are the next chapter names. We shall see what you can glean from them.**

 **Chapter 7: Monuments to Time**

 **Chapter 8: Ghost of Winter**

 **Chapter 9:...(find out next time!)**

 **And that is all for now! I hope you are all enjoying meeting the Jackals. I do find that it is important for me to point out that this story is going to be part one of introducing the members of Jackal Fang. The second part will introduce the last 5 members and one of those, at least, will be a key central figure in stories coming up. Please leave a review, even to say hi! Well, until next we meet, TTYL! *thinking about Seven Brides for Seven Brothers***


	8. Monuments to Time

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Tolax: Anu, have you seen Sorano? I wanted to see if she would go on a mission with me?**

 **Anu: *shakes head* Not lately. Last I saw her was this morning and she was talking with Melody about something im...**

 **Sorano: *yells* MUTT!**

 **Anu: *flinches* I've been found out. *runs***

 **Sorano: *runs in* Where is that dog? He hid three months of paperwork in his file drawer!**

 **Tolax: *pointing in the direction that Anu ran* I have no idea.**

 **Sorano: *yells* Anu!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Monuments to Time

 **August 7th, 786**

 **Edorin's 1st P.O.V.**

I felt my heart beating against my ribs as I held my stone sword in my hands. Across from me, my opponent held a similar one. I could feel my magic container was lower than I would like and that meant that, if I didn't end this duel soon, then I was going to lose. Losing was not an option right now. As the man in front of me always said, 'If you allow losing to be an option for a fight, then you will most certainly do just that.' So, losing was not an option that I wanted to even think of. I had to win. After years of training with the man in front of me, the man I called father by choice, then I had to show that I was worthy of receiving that training.

With a yell, I charged forward and our two blades clashed against each other. "My word Edorin, you are certainly growing in strength." My father said as the force of my blow had caused him to lose some ground.

While we were now in a deadlock, I smiled and looked over to him. "All thanks to your training dad."

A smile appeared on his face before he nodded. "True. But, don't think that this fight is close to being over. I still have some tricks up my sleeve."

I knew that tone. That tone meant that he was going to be pulling out a surprise and, if I didn't pull one out first, then he was going to win. I was not going to allow that to happen. So, I pushed the two of us out of the deadlock and jumped back a few paces before grabbing a miniature statue from my belt before feeding my magic into it; giving it life and causing it to grow. Soon, facing the stone tiger that my father was fond of summoning, was my own Buloke wood anaconda that I had spent the last three days carving. It wasn't easy and now it seemed I would be able to test if it was worth the time I spent.

Pushing my will through my magic, like dad had taught me, the snake launched at the tiger. While stone was a harder element to break through, I was putting more stock in the speed that I would get from using a lighter material while, at the same time, keeping my statue protected by using an extremely sturdy hardwood for the statue itself.

Of course, my statue was not the only thing that would be participating in this fight. Once dad was distracted by the fight, I used the dust that the statues were kicking up, and purposefully so on the part of my snake, to sneak around and get behind dad. Once I heard the sound of wood cracking, which I knew would distract dad since that meant that he was 'pulling ahead', I took out a stone dagger and grew it slightly before launching at dad and tackling him to the ground.

There was an extremely genuine look of surprise on his face as I held the dagger flesh against his neck. "Do you tap?" I asked with a feeling of pride going through me. While I knew better than to let my pride distract me, I felt like I was on top of the world for finally getting the drop on dad.

He smiled softly and tapped his hand down on the side of the dirt before speaking. "Yes, I tap out. You did very well today Edorin." I removed the dagger from dad's neck and returned it to normal before putting it away and helping dad up. Once he was on his feet, the two of us turned to our animal statues, which had stopped moving, and returned them to normal size before returning them to our pockets. I would have to repair my statue a bit later. It had a few cracks along its back and, if I needed it again soon, then I had to be ready.

"Guess I finally got the win," I spoke as we faced each other. We had a long-going promise between the two of us for the day that this came. "That means you have to prep whatever I bring back from hunting today."

...What? I enjoyed hunting but I didn't always enjoy the prep work I had to do once I brought an animal back from the woods. So, we had an agreement that, whenever I beat him during a training spar, then he would have to do that stuff for me when I returned with the hunt. Since this was the first time that I had actually beaten him, then I was really excited to not have to do this part.

I could see laughter in dad's plum-colored eyes before he nodded. "It does look that way." He then looked up to the sky before saying, "Well, if we are going to have a good meal for this afternoon, then you had best get moving." Of course, the wind picked up at that moment and caused a strand of his tea-green hair to blow into his mouth, causing him to wretch as he tried to get the offending strands out.

While he did that, I took a miniaturized horse statue out of my work belt and brought it to life with my magic while enlarging it so I could ride it comfortably before I said, "Maybe you should consider a haircut old man."

He gave me a light glare at that. He liked his hair long, and the thought of cutting it short always put him on edge. "Right, I'll do that when you start wearing those color contacts that old lady Lindy wants you to wear so people stop thinking you're a demon when they first meet you."

My own face fell at that and, once I was on my statue, I looked back to him. "No way old man. You just make sure you have everything ready to cook lunch. I'll be back soon." I then thought of a location by the river to go to so I could think and maybe find something good to take down to bring back for dinner.

As I rode, though, I couldn't stop about what the future would hold. I knew that I was getting older and that many people my age were out on their own, starting adventures and creating memories with others to last them. But, at the same time, I wasn't sure if I was ready to leave yet. It felt like all the craziness that was pushing Alex and I apart was finally gone. The bullies that were sent in to harass me by my biological father, and then a few years ago that same man coming to try and take me away.

Yeah, Alex wasn't my biological father, but he was the only real father that I ever had. My biological father, Haltran Marans, had wanted nothing to do with me when my mother informed him that she was pregnant with me. Cast her aside and wished for no part in who I would one day become...whatever that might be.

So, she had raised me on her own. Got a job with a florist, since she was a floral mage, in Deca, the town that was only a few miles away from where Alex and I lived now. She rented a small apartment above the shop from the owner and, even though we didn't have much when I was growing up, it was always enough for the two of us.

When I was seven, I realized that Marans was watching me, and making sure that I regretted living. He hired some local kids who were a year older than me to constantly harass me. For mom's sake, I never told her about them and I took the beatings when I had to. But, everything changed when I was ten.

I had been on my way to the apartment after school, hoping that if I got there soon enough that I could help a little in the flower shop so maybe mom and I could sit and work on a project together. But, the local kids came up behind me and I realized then that the reason that had stayed away recently was that they had discovered that a number of them could use magic. I couldn't. So I ran.

I didn't even know what direction I was running in, just that I was running away from them. Eventually, I had ended up in a statue garden that was a couple of miles out of town. I had never really been out there but, with the maze structure that it had, I was hoping that I could lose them.

But, I had found a dead end that was guarded by an angel statue. At the time, I found it fitting since I had been sure that I was going to die soon. Three of the local kids soon were blocking my escape and I was pressing against the statue, scared. The girl on the group prepared her iron make magic and, thinking that I was going to die, I closed my eyes and wished that something...anything...would save me. I poured everything into hoping that someone would find me.

And that was when everything changed.

I snapped my mind out of the past as I arrived at the river. So, I dismounted and returned the horse to its normal size. Once the statue was back in my pocket, I took out four wolf statues from the same pocket and kept them at the ready. They were some of my best hunters and I wanted to make sure that they were ready.

But, before I activated them, I went back to the water and cupped some water in my hands before splashing it on my face. As the residual water dripped back to the river in front of me, I let my memory move back to the day that I met Alex.

Before the girl's magic could reach me, back on that day, the statue behind me suddenly shifted, causing me to jump, before it moved forward and had its sword outstretched toward the three who had me cornered. I didn't know, back then, what was going on. As the statue and local kids had disappeared from view, I had fallen to the ground in shock, leaning against the pedestal that the statue had been on before.

I didn't really concentrate on anything at that point until I had felt the earth vibrate beneath me. It had scared me when the angel had returned. That had been, of course, until I had heard a voice. That voice changed everything.

Flashback:

" _I was wondering how Samuel here ended up heading toward town when I hadn't sent him there."_

 _I glanced up, tear stains still drying on my face, and felt my eyes widen in surprise when I saw a man about twenty-five years old standing on the shoulder of the angel statue that went on this pedestal. "I...I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. The statue just," I then tensed as the statue moved toward me again, and I felt like he might have it step on me. Marans had gone so far as to hire the local kids to attack me...it wouldn't surprise me if he paid this man to do the same._

 _The feeling of a shadow passing over me caused me to look up and I quickly turned around and backed up as the statue returned to its pedestal and seemed to lose the life it had. The man then jumped down from the shoulder and, once he was on the ground, he moved toward me. I felt fear and so backed up until my back hit the stone of yet another pedestal in this dead end. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as the man paused and knelt down. I hid my face, waiting for the pain. "I'm not going to hurt you kid."_

 _A pause came over me at that before I looked back up at the man. His plum-colored eyes were studying me but they didn't look angry or violent. They looked like mom's would get when I went to her after a nightmare. But...I didn't know this man. "Why?"_

 _Pain seemed to flash in his eyes before he laughed. "I'm not a monster kid, just a mage." He then sat down in front of me. "I have to say, I am surprised that there is another mage like me around these parts."_

 _Mage? What other mage was he talking about? I didn't see anyone else besides those local kids and this man. "Mage? What mage?"_

 _A look of surprise crossed his face before he laughed. "Kid, I guess you don't realize it, but you were the one that woke up Samuel. You're a statue mage kid."_

" _I'm a...a what?" I asked him, still shocked about what was happening. I couldn't be what he said...I mean mom is a mage...and she said Marans is some sort of water mage. But, I wasn't really all that special._

 _A snort coming from the man in front of me caused me to focus on him. "Kid you heard me right. You're a statue mage. There is no other way that you could have woke up Samuel here to help you." The man then held out a hand to me. "So, here's the thing. It's getting kinda repetitive just calling you kid...kid. So, can I have your name? Mine's Alexander Lafayette...but you can just call me Alex."_

 _I stared at the man's...Alex's hand, for a few seconds before hesitantly taking his hand in mine. "I'm Edorin...Edorin Hyza."_

" _Ah!" He said with realization. "You're mom's the florist right? Eloise Hyza?" I nodded at that and he smiled before standing and offering me his hand again. "Well Edorin, we should get you back to town. Your mom will start worrying if you aren't home."_

 _Again, I just stared at this man in front of me. He...he seemed to care. It was weird. But, while he was being nice...I guess it wouldn't be too bad to trust him. So, I took his hand and let him help me up. "Thank you." I thanked him as we started to walk out of the garden._

 _Alex glanced down at me before smiling and nodding. "It was my privilege Edorin."_

End of Flashback.

When Alex had walked me home that day, he met mom and had asked her to start training me in my magic, new at the time. She had agreed only if he would join us for meals. I didn't find out until later that it was because she had heard from others that he lived alone, where we lived now. So, that had become a regular bit of my life for six months. But, at that point, mom was diagnosed with an untreatable disease. She was going to die. I had been scared but Alex had been there for both of us and had us move in with him during those last few months we had. While the remaining time mom was alive had a solemn air around it, we had a lot of good times to cover up the bad times. Thankfully, she went peacefully.

Mom didn't have much in her will but, one thing she did put in, was that Alex was to become my new guardian. I didn't know at the time, but Alex and mom had talked about what would happen to me and Alex had offered to become my guardian. It only took a little more legal paperwork after that and I was the child of Alex. I didn't take his last name, in honor of my mother, but it didn't take long for me to start calling Alex 'dad'.

We were happy after the sadness went away. I trained with Alex constantly since I had graduated from eighth grade...all that was required in Fiore and most of Ishgar for that matter. There were ways of getting around the requirement, though both of us decided not to since mom had really wanted me to at least get through eighth grade before she died. Alex and I were happy and, through training, he was able to get me some unofficial jobs through some friends that he knew. While at the time it was a good idea for us, we didn't realize how much word of me would spread.

The sound of a twig breaking caused me to once again snap out of my memories as I looked up and saw two does. No young in sight and, from how they were moving, they hadn't realized I was here. They would be enough meat for the next couple of weeks. So, I sent the magic through me to the statues of the wolves and sent my intentions through to them. They were off like bullets.

 **Alexander's 1st P.O.V.**

A sigh escaped me as I sat downstairs, Edorin having just gone up to bed, a glass of whiskey in my hand, though I really wasn't paying much attention to it. Dinner had been good, and we had plenty of meat left over to cover us for a few weeks, so that wasn't my worry. No, what I found myself thinking on was Edorin. He was fifteen, hardly a boy anymore, and he was a mage. Here in Fiore, most wouldn't take you seriously as a mage unless you were affiliated with a guild.

While we hadn't talked much about him joining a guild, small conversations had come up between the two of us, including tonight, that had that topic in the forefront. I couldn't be selfish and keep him here with me. That scared little boy that I had found in the statue garden that day so many years ago had grown up quickly and needed to get out there.

But, I knew that an event that happened last year would make us finding him a guild where he would be welcome at more than challenging. Edorin had just returned from a small 'mission' that I had found him through an old acquaintance named Bella Don and we had been preparing to go hunting together for our lunch since that was normal for our Sunday routine. But, a rather furious knocking at our door had interrupted that.

Flashback.

 _My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I heard the impatient knocking at the door. If it was someone from Deca at the door, they knew just to announce themselves and come in and wait until Edorin or I could get in the living room. So, it had to be someone who wasn't from here. And the loud beating that they were giving my door meant that they must be impatient about something._

 _Motioning Edorin to sit down, which he did, I moved to the door and opened it. On the other side was a man with blue hair and sharp hazel eyes. I didn't know this man but he seemed to be searching for something if I was reading him right. "Can I help you?" I asked the man to get this conversation started._

 _The man's eyes shot at me quickly. "I am here to take my son away. Where is he?"_

 _This had to be Marans. There was no doubt now. I had heard a rumor the other day from Adam, the local mail runner, that Marans was trying to improve his station in the political world, since he was an aide to a member of the Council. At the time, I suspected that Marans might come and try and take Edorin away since his name was starting to become known. Looks like I was right. "I'm not sure who you are talking about. Edorin may be of your blood, but he is not your son. He is mine."_

 _I wasn't expecting Marans to punch me and so I couldn't block the fist that came flying at my face. My vision was blurry and I couldn't regain my focus as I felt a boot connect to my gut and send me flying back._

" _Dad!" Edorin's voice echoed and that was soon followed by footsteps._

" _Edorin get out of here!" I yelled at him. I couldn't let Edorin get near that man. I had to keep him safe. The sound of footsteps stopping caused me relief._

 _But, Marans suddenly talking did not help. "Neither of you have a say in this. Now, stay quiet!" Just when I was starting to regain my senses, I felt his boot connect with my chest and I heard something snap. Pain enveloped me and I felt blood in my throat. "Now boy, you will come with me and I am not afraid to use force." I then heard the sound of water and realized that Marans had activated his magic._

 _A familiar sound of stone growing told me that Edorin had used his own magic. "No, I won't be. Get out of here! This is our home, and you have no part in it!"_

" _I said I was taking you by force, and so I shall!" I heard Marans yell right before I heard a stream of water fly overhead. From the sound on the other side, it seemed like Edorin was blocking it with his shield. But, depending on what shield Edorin grabbed, I knew that the shield was not going to last long. So, focusing the best I could, I reared my leg back before tripping Marans. But, the motion caused pain to well up from my chest and I coughed again instead of giving Edorin the warning that I wanted to. "Well, once I take this man out, then you won't have any other choice!" Marans' voice sounded as I was starting to regain my senses again._

" _No!" I heard Edorin yell and a rush of wind flying overhead caused me to see that Edorin had thrown his shield at Marans to keep him away from me._

 _But, I had seen something that I doubted Edorin had noticed in his panicked state or Marans had noticed in his drive to tear us apart. The water attack from Marans had whittled the edge of the practice shield that I often used with Edorin to a point and that point was heading straight for,_

 _A gasp came from Marans as the shield, and the force behind it, threw him against the wall before the blood started to seep out from the wound. Now that my senses had returned to me, I could stand up, barely, and see that Marans was dead. But, he wasn't my concern._

 _With a look at Edorin, I saw that the boy looked deathly white and was shaking. I had to comfort him. So, with a little pain from my injuries, I moved over to the boy I called son and wrapped my arms around him. "You saved me Edorin. It's okay. We're okay." But, I could see the haunted look in Edorin's eyes. Those eyes that were so dark a brown that they looked black. They were seemingly petrified, doused in fear._

End of Flashback.

I had called the rune knights the first chance I could get and, as I suspected, there had been an investigation. But, also as I figured, the court had ruled self-defense to Edorin and he was let go. That had been the easy part.

The hard part had been Edorin himself. Taking a life was never easy, and I myself had only had to do that a couple of times before then. It hit Edorin hard and it had taken him a few months to recover. But, for the past seven months, he was recovered from the incident and had returned to his regular training.

The difficult part that situation brought into finding Edorin a guild was that the trial was public, and to the public eye, Marans had been a decently liked politician...especially in higher circles. Since many guilds were steeped in political ties, as well as money ties, it made finding a guild that would take Edorin that much harder. I honestly wasn't sure if there would even be a guild that would be beneficial for Edorin to join that would take him. Fairy Tail was the only option that I could think of, but they were barely surviving as it was and I knew Edorin would feel like his past would only burden them more.

Shaking my head, I went to take another sip of my whiskey when I found myself staring at the drink. It now seemed to trigger memories I had of a young man who was just a bit younger than me who I met many years ago. He was pretty well steeped in information, the last time I saw him, and I knew that he would have information on guilds that would take Edorin, even with his recent past, and at the same time make sure that Edorin didn't feel like he was a burden to them. So, I set my drink down and stood to find my comm lacrima. Since Edorin was most likely asleep now, this would be the best time to give that man a call.

 **Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

Finally. Finally, after hours of slaving away, I stared at an empty desk. So many sheets of paper later, I was finally happy to say that there was no more paperwork in front of me. This had to become some sort of holiday. Seriously. It felt like there was almost a never-ending stream of paper after paper. Recently, it felt like I was almost drowning in the stuff. But, as I stared in front of me, I could now see the top of my desk.

Of course...taking a glance at the corner of my eye, I shivered slightly at the stack of paper that had to be three foot high of the paperwork for the previous three months. But, Melody didn't say that I had to get all of my paperwork done tonight...just the stuff in front of me. That was to the side. I was perfectly in the clear

So, in celebration, I opened my secret stash drawer in my desk and pulled out a bottle of my whiskey and a glass. I almost shivered at how good the whiskey smelled. Melody had put me on a ban from whiskey all day until I got the paperwork in front of me done. So, it was time for me to take a drink.

I got the glass to my lips and could almost taste the burning alcohol on my lips when, to my dismay, my comm lacrima lit up. I swear if this was Paralex calling to chit chat I was going to stab him in a very uncomfortable place the next time I saw him.

Figuring that it was best to see who it was, I placed my glass back down...though there was a twinge in my heart as I did, before I picked up my lacrima and sent a pulse through it. When the other side of the line showed an image, I felt surprised. There, sitting in a wingback chair and looking just like he did ten years ago when I met him, sat Alexander Lafayette. His tea-green hair was hanging loosely over his left shoulder and he had a troubled look in his plum-colored eyes. While I was curious, I felt a twinge of jealousy when I saw that he was bringing his own glass of whiskey from his lips and, from the sigh that followed, he must have just taken a drink.

"Anu, it has been a while." Alex greeted me with a smile.

Not one to be outdone, and wanting to have a drink of whiskey almost desperately, I lifted my glass toward him in greeting and took a quick couple of sips before setting my glass back down. "Yes, it has Alexander. How have you been getting along?"

The statue mage studied me for a few seconds before sighing and smiling. "I've had some ups and downs since the last time we saw each other...or spoke to each other for that matter. Of course, the last time we saw each other, I couldn't tell whether you wanted to run me through or shoot me."

A laugh escaped me at that as I remembered that day. Alex had gotten in the way of me taking out my target and put me into a position where I had to choose between giving up on my target or getting caught by the rune knights. I really had been thinking between those two options that day. But, this wasn't the time for that. "I think a little of both Alex. I wasn't exactly reasonable back then."

"No...no you weren't." Alex agreed with me. "But, one thing that you were back then was neck deep in information."

Ah, so now we were getting somewhere. I was curious about why Alex would be contacting me so out of the blue over the comm line. I was sure he could find someone to locate me so he could visit me in person if all he wanted to do was catch up. "So, there is a reason that you are calling me so out of the blue like this," I commented to him before I took another sip of my whiskey.

A guilty look crossed his face before he took a sip from his own whiskey. "Right," he answered me. "For the past five years, I've been training a young man in the use of statue magic. Very good if I do say so myself honestly." He started in his reason for calling. "I took him in as my son when his mother died about six months after his training started with me."

"How did she go?" I asked, feeling sad for this young man that who was now Alex's son.

Alex sighed and finished off his glass before taking his bottle and filling the glass. As he filled it, he answered me. "She got a disease. Never identified and it killed her. But, she was happy when she went. She was a good mom to Edorin. Raised him on her own and worked to make sure that they were both as happy as they could be."

"And the biological father?" I continued to ask him. I made sure to specify that I was asking about the biological father. Even I could see how attached Alex was to this boy Edorin and, from how he was talking, he counted himself as Edorin's actual father, blood tie or not.

To my surprise, an angry look still flashed onto Alex's face. What did I say that could have still gotten him angry? Maybe saying that he was a father, if only biological, triggered something. "Marans was no father to Edorin at all. Abandoned Eloise when he found out she was pregnant. When Edorin started school, he actually hired local kids to harass Edorin. That's how I met Edorin, back when he was ten. They were attacking him with magic and Edorin's own magic awakened. Last year, though, Marans heard about how well Edorin was doing and, wanting to further his political career, he came to take Edorin away from me."

That name sounded familiar. I searched my mind for a few minutes before I remembered. When I was working for the Council back in 775 before Makarov asked me to join his guild to serve my sentence. Haltran Marans had been vying for a seat on the Council but he kept losing his bids. I had lost track of the man because he never seemed to be going anywhere that I needed to pay attention to. "He was a well-liked politician." I pointed out, though I was now realizing that his actual personality was not that shining as his political side showed.

An annoyed look was Alex's response. "Yes, and that is part of the problem that is causing me to call you." Alex then paused and took a sip of his whiskey. "Last year, as I said, Marans came and tried to take Edorin away. Even though we were prepared for him eventually coming, I still let him catch me by surprise. He knocked my senses away from me and tried to force Edorin to come with him, even attacking Edorin with his water magic. Edorin blocked the water with a shield and I tried to distract Marans so Edorin could escape. But, Marans threatened me and Edorin panicked before throwing his shield at him."

It didn't take much to realize what happened. Alex had already said that this Edorin was a statue mage. The shield was no doubt made of stone and the water attack probably sharpened it to a point. When Edorin threw the shield, it must have killed Marans. "So, Edorin killed Marans in self-defense. I don't see a problem with that." Did the rune knights make charges against Edorin? Is that the problem?

"And neither did the investigation that took place after," Alex added. So, it wasn't because of the investigation. But, what problem did that cause to have Alex call me so suddenly? "The problem came when I heard about how the upper class, and the Council, was reacting. Like you, they only knew Marans' political face, a good and fair politician. So, it was made clear very quickly that any organization that supported Edorin would be cut off by any who wanted standing. That's been making it difficult to find a guild for Edorin. He has expressed a number of times a hope to join a magic guild one day. But, with the political pressure following Edorin, there wouldn't be many guilds willing to take him in with that baggage."

"What about Fairy Tail?" I asked. Alex knew as well as I did that Fairy Tail was always a different sort of guild. They didn't care what baggage a person brought with them, case in point when I was asked to join in 775. They should, even in the state they were in, be willing to accept Edorin into their guild.

But, Alex shaking his head told me that he had thought of Fairy Tail. "If this was 783, and Edorin had this baggage, then I wouldn't have hesitated in sending him their way. But, Fairy Tail is struggling right now. Their few ties that the missing members made are probably the only reason that they are still afloat. If Edorin joined and they lost those connections because of his baggage, then Edorin wouldn't forgive himself. It took too long to help him get over killing Marans, to stop the nightmares from haunting him as they did. I won't let him be broken because he joined a guild that might be hurt like that by him joining."

That made sense. But, if he had already thought of Fairy Tail, then why was he calling me? He said he wanted me for my information so I was curious. If he was still looking for a guild, though, then I knew exactly what I was going to do. "So, why do you need my information?" I pressed my friend before I took a sip. This felt like a hunt and I was finally cornering my prey; the answer from Alex.

A flash of knowing in Alex's eyes told me that he figured it out. "I'm calling to ask you if you have heard of any guilds that would take Edorin, despite what happened last year, and wouldn't be hurt because of his joining."

I felt a wicked grin flash onto my face when he asked that. Just what I was hoping he would ask. But, I wasn't going to fill him in over the comm. It had been a while since I had visited the man and I would like to meet this Edorin personally. "I might have an idea," I answered Alex.

"I hate that look Anu." Alex put out accusingly and with tension in his voice.

My grin turned into a smirk. "Well, I think it is high time I visited you tomorrow. I'll leave here at about six tomorrow morning." I then paused. "You do still live in that shack outside of Deca don't you?"

"Are you still a mangy mutt?" Alex shot back. I nodded. Of course, I was. "Yes, I still live outside of Deca. What time should we expect you?"

I wouldn't be traveling alone and, as I thought about the few mages left here at the guild, realized that Eden was the only one outside of Melody who was even here. The others were all out on missions. I would have to warn her about not eating anything she wasn't allowed to while we were there. It wouldn't make a first impression of our guild if Eden ate one of Edorin's or Alex's special statue works. "You can expect two of us there by about three."

"Two of you?" Alex asked me confused.

Well, it was best to keep him interested. "We will see you then." I then hung up the line.

Turning to look at the time, I sighed when I realized that it was about eleven thirty. That meant that if we were to leave by six, I had to get to sleep now. Thankfully, Melody and Narissa had convinced me to put a cot into my office. So, I turned off my light and, once I was set a lacrima alarm for five, I laid down and went to sleep.

 **August 8th, 786**

 **Eden's 1st P.O.V.**

"Damn it Anu are you going to tell me why you dragged me out of bed at five thirty this morning or not?" I growled at Anu as we arrived at the outskirts of Deca. He had kept me in the dark about why he woke me up this morning. I had not been a happy dragon slayer. If it wasn't for Pitch, who had stayed at the guild with Melody so he could have breakfast, then I would have torn off an appendage from the Master's person...and I wouldn't have cared which one it was. Early mornings were not my favorite thing, especially after the long mission I got back from a couple days ago.

My guild master, to my annoyance, smirked and kept walking forward. "Let's just say that I need you to come with me to visit an old friend."

A growl slipped my throat before I shot Anu a glare. "I am serious Anu. If you don't tell me right now why you made me miss a Melody breakfast and lunch, then I will get violent...and you aren't getting any younger." It was a risky ploy to semi-threaten the mutt but I was not in a good mood.

Ahead of us, I saw a small two-story cabin pushed back against the trees, which also had access to the statue garden that we had been walking by for the past five minutes. Hopefully, this was the place that Anu had dragged me out of bed to get to. I was slightly tired and hungry...not two things you want in combination with a dragon slayer.

A sigh slipped from Anu before he spoke. "If you must know, we are here to meet a possible new guild member."

"Huh?" I asked in shock, stopping in my tracks.

Anu stopped and turned around. "My friend, who lives here, contacted me last night and was wondering if I could find a guild for his adoptive son. Alex just thinks that I am here to offer him some options for guilds that Edorin can join."

"Edorin is his son...right?" I asked, my hunger and tiredness gone. Anu nodded. "And neither of them know that you want Edorin for our guild?"

A laugh escaped from Anu at that. "I'm doubtful that they even know I have a guild. You mind playing a hired mage to escort me?"

My smirk would match some of his when he said that. "Might be some fun." Of course, eventually, I was going to blow the whole caper out from under Anu for waking me up so early and not telling me until we got here. But, he seemed excited about this bit so I would let him get away with it for a little.

Relief seemed to take Anu away for a moment. "Thank you, Eden." He then went to walk toward the house but paused. "Oh, and I would recommend that you not eat anything of your element while here unless you get permission."

And there was that feeling that he was messing with me. Damn, and he knew that I hadn't eaten much except for nasty travel food. Seriously, why the hell would he even warn me about something like that? I went on missions all the time and I never felt like eating anything of my element on those. And Anu knew that too. So, something was going on and,

When we got to the front yard, I understood and I wanted to kill. "Damn you Anu," I growled at him softly with a glare. The most immaculate smells were hitting my senses and it was taking every ounce of my being not to jump on them and eat everything from the Earth that was in sight. Damn fucking mutt bastard!

I glared at our guild master as a ghost of a smirk flashed on his face. But, that look was fast to disappear as two people walked out. One was a man who was about six foot two with long tea green hair in a ponytail and plum colored eyes. I was guessing this was Anu's friend. Next to him, was a boy who was about fifteen, not much younger than I was, and he had medium length teal colored hair. It wasn't long enough to be put in a ponytail...didn't even reach his shoulders, but it just had a long look to it. Anyways, at first glance, it looked like the guy had black eyes...like the color black. But, with my senses and a second look, I realized that they were really dark brown. He was about five foot ten and he had some of that delicious smelling clay in his hair.

Mmm...that smelled so fucking good.

"Anu my friend, I am glad that you could make it." His friend greeted him before embracing the master.

Once they separated, I did not hesitate to glare at Anu as he spoke. "It is good to see you Alex. But, I believe some introductions are in order?"

His friend took that to mean that he should start first. Well, while I wasn't losing the glare to the dog, I was glad that I was going to learn their names. "Of course. I am Alexander Lafayette and this is my son, Edorin Hyza. We both work in statue magic." I could see that this Alex was looking at me warily since I was slightly growling at the master as I glared at him before he spoke again. "Um...Anu, I think you need an introduction as well...and why is she growling at you?"

The master tensed when Alex asked that and turned to look at me. Oh, I wasn't letting go of this glare for a long while. "Of course. I am Anu Biskaln, transformation mage. This wonderful woman next to me," The sarcasm wasn't helping mutt. "is Eden Flint, the earth dragon slayer. I hired her from a guild to escort me here. Been hearing about some bandits sniffing around trade roads lately and it was better to be safe."

"And why is she growling?" Alex pressured Anu.

Yeah Anu, you explain why I feel like either ripping your throat out or devouring one of the statues in the yard. Both would give me the same feeling of joy to do.

Anu cleared his throat at that. "Well, I'm afraid that Eden missed her breakfast this morning and has only eaten a few light snacks on the way in. Plus, being an earth dragon slayer around all of your work...it is probably causing her to be a little hungry."

A little hungry?! Oh, just wait until this was done being a farce mutt. I am going to destroy you so bad that not even Melody will be able to help you. I will so enjoy tearing you a new one for this.

My growling stopped when Alex, to my surprise, walked up to Anu and head-slapped him. Okay, that made this a little more bearable. Alexander Lafayette; you just became my new friend. "Anu! The girl looks famished and you don't let her eat before getting here?" He then turned to Edorin. "Edorin, can you take her to the workshop and let her have her fill of the raw material?"

The teal-haired boy nodded and motioned for me to follow him. "Come on, the workshop is just around back."

Nodding, I followed the boy while Anu and Alex went inside the house. That mutt was lucky he was getting away for now...and that I was going to be able to eat something here. "So, you and Alex live here right?"

Edorin nodded at that. "Yeah, he's been a great dad."

As we neared the garage that I was assuming was the workshop, I noticed some hesitation in his voice. "But?" I tried to drag out of him.

Once we were inside, and Edorin closed the door, he turned to me. "Tell me; what's being in a guild like?" Whoa, that was definitely out of nowhere.

But, at his look, I smiled and sat down. He brought over a tray of some of the best raw clay that I had smelled in a while and, after a few bites, I answered him. "It's like being a part of a giant family that always has my back. We get to go on so many adventures with each other and meet so many new people." A chuckle then escaped me as I thought about how the entire guild acted around each other. Though we weren't all the same when it came to many things, we all got along together in a very fun family way. "If you get the right guildmaster, then you can find yourself in a guild that can be open with each other, and who can enjoy a good laugh at each other's expense."

"That sounds like fun. Makes me wish I was in a guild." His mood then turned somber and his eyes became downcast. "But, that won't happen for a long time."

So, he didn't even know that his dad was looking for a guild that would take him. Why was that? "Why do you think that?"

He looked at me as I ate more of the raw material. "Last year...I killed someone. It was in self-defense but I made a lot of political enemies because of it. Most guilds won't take me and, the ones that would, the loss of any political ties because of my joining might cause them more injury than help. I couldn't stand it if I joined a guild and that happened."

Okay, it was time to ruin Anu's parade on this account. "Okay, enough of the pity party. If you are going to join our guild, if you accept, no pity party like this allowed. If you join, you need to be proud to be a member and not worried about what will happen."

Edorin looked taken aback at that. His eyes were wide and weren't moving from me. "What the hell are you talking about? You're guild...me?"

I let out a laugh and motioned toward the house, where Anu was probably giving Alex a hard time. Well, I wasn't going to give Edorin that hard of a time. "Your dad called the dog...sorry Anu, last night, and he asked Anu about guilds that might take you due to your past...I am guessing the incident you just spoke of. Well, what Anu didn't tell your dad, probably to surprise him, is that Anu himself is a guildmaster of a guild. Our guild is called Jackal Fang."

"So Anu is your guildmaster?" He asked me, still seeming hesitant.

What was it going to take to break through to him? "Yeah, as surprising as it seems. To be honest, the mutt really wants you for our guild. Why do you think he personally came all this was to meet you? He could have just told Alex over the comm, or even just had one of us come and check you out, but he came himself. Anu looks at each of us as his own kids and he protects us all. He wants you to be a part of our family like you are with Alex."

I frowned when Edorin shook his head. "No I couldn't...with what I've done and the scrutiny around me by powerful figures, I couldn't put your guild,"

"That's not your choice though Edorin." I interrupted him. "Do you think that you are the only person in the world who isn't liked by people in power?" I then let out a laugh. "Anu isn't much liked in the Council and, when it comes to what people have done in their pasts, I know for certain that six of our members, including Anu, have done a lot worse than kill someone in self-defense before they came to the guild."

He looked shocked but disbelieving. "Really?" Since he was questioning this, though, this might be what I need to convince him to accept Anu's offer...and my offer, before Anu knew.

"I'm serious. While I can't tell you about the five, since you aren't a member yet, I can tell you about the dog. He used to be an assassin for the dark guild called Death Head Caucus. Not only that, but he was good at it too. If he is willing to make a light guild and wants you in it, then he doesn't give two shits about what you did in the past." I then grabbed Edorin's shoulders, my meal forgotten, "You won't have to forget about Alex, but you have a chance here to be a part of a guild that, not only will accept you, but wants you as well. Jackal Fang literally saved my life. While this isn't quite the same, let them give you a place in their lives, in our lives as well."

Edorin stared at me with wide eyes. "Um...can you let go of my shoulders?"

Huh?

I looked at my hands and realized that my fingers were close to digging into his shoulders. I felt a blush of embarrassment creep onto my face as I released my fingers. "Uh...sorry about that. I am serious about what I said though." I then held out my hand toward him. "So, what do you say? Will you join Jackal Fang?"

The boy in front of me looked between my hand and my face for a minute before he started to stretch out his hand. But, before he gripped my hand to seal the deal, he hesitated and stared into my eyes. "Only on one condition."

My eyebrows furrowed at him. Seriously, what was his condition going to be? "We already said that you wouldn't be cut off from Alex. Jackal Fang is a pretty free-will run guild. The only things that Anu gets to decide are S class and who gets to participate in multi-guild tournaments. The five teams of our guild get to fight over members and the team I am a part of, though there are only two of us now, would kill to get another member. What else could you possibly want out of this?"

His laugh wasn't what I was expecting but I waited as he spoke. "Well, good thing you just said that, because my only condition was that I wanted to be on a team with you at the very least."

….Eh? "With me?"

He nodded and grabbed my hand. "Really."

My smile went broad and I shook his hand a couple of times. "Well, welcome unofficially to Jackal Fang. Anu has the stamp with him so let's go and ruin his parade." I then grabbed a few handfuls of the raw material, for the trip back to the guild, before Edorin led me back to the house.

When we arrived in the living room, I saw that Alex was looking at Anu with a confused look, which told me that Anu was still toying with him. Damn that dog could be cruel. I had already convinced Edorin to join our guild and Anu hadn't even told Alex that he was a guild master of a guild, let alone any of the other stuff. "Eden, did you get your pick of the raw material?" Alex asked me as Edorin and I sat on the loveseat that was between the two chairs that Alex and Anu were sitting on.

"Yes he did and it was very good. Thank you so much, Alex." I responded to him.

Edorin then took over with a questioning look. "So, what are you two talking about?" Out of the corner of my eye, I could see how serious he actually looked in asking that. Damn that kid was good. It was like we hadn't just had our discussion in the garage.

Alex motioned to Anu before saying, "Anu is here to tell me about different guilds that he knows of. I know you wanted to join a guild Edorin, and I figured that Anu would have some information about any that would be a good fit for you."

"Oh really?" Edorin continued on like he didn't have a clue. Damn, he was going to be a fun guildmate. Edorin then turned to Anu. "Did you come with a certain guild in mind for me Master Anu?" Oh, sly kid. That last part was said where I barely picked up on it. And if I barely picked up on it, then I doubted that Anu,

"Well, there is one guild that I think you…" Anu started before his eyes widened, along with Alex's, and both turned to look at the two of us in shock. I had a very smug look on my own face and I was damn well feeling smug. "what did you just call me?"

"Did you just say 'Master' Anu?" Alex asked right after.

At Alex's question, Edorin nodded but kept eye contact with Anu. "Well, I should. He is the guild master of Jackal Fang...and he wants me to be a member of his guild." Edorin then gave Anu a cocky look. "Isn't that why you are here Master Anu?" Alex threw a look to Anu and, added with the still shocked as all hell look on Anu's face, I doubled over in laughter while Edorin simply looked smug.

After a minute, and my roar of laughter turned to chuckles, Anu straightened up and spoke. "Well, since we are being so blunt with this, then yes."

"Good." Edorin spoke in response. "Because I already agreed to join your guild. So, where can I get my guild mark put on?"

As Anu dug into his bag for the guild seal that he brought with, and Alex was giving a glare at Anu, though a playful one, I leaned back and felt relaxed. A new member of the guild and I got one up on Anu at the same time. And, even better, a new member for my team. This day has been getting better and better since the bad wake up from Anu. Del was going to be so happy that we got a new member when the three of us got back.

* * *

 **Eden: *cheers* Yes! New teammate!**

 **Edorin: *laughs* Looks like it is going to be a lot of fun!**

 **Eden: *walking* Wait until you meet Del. She is so much fun! I think we are all going to get along great!**

 **Anu: *nods* Yes, just don't get our sound mage angry and you should survive alright. *walks ahead***

 **Edorin: *nervous* He...he was just kidding right?**

 **Eden: *thinks* Meh. *gives so-so sign***

 **Edorin: *gulps* Now I'm nervous.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter for you all! I hope you all enjoyed meeting my statue mage, Edorin! I had a lot of fun with his background and the complexity of his situation. Not much to say on my end though, since the chapter was all about meeting him. Next chapter is going to get really cold, and have some serious moments to it.**

 **Speaking of the next chapter, here are the chapter titles for the next chapters!**

 **Chapter 8: Ghost of Winter**

 **Chapter 9: Shadow of the Vampire**

 **Chapter 10: ...(you know the drill by now.) XD**

 **And that's all from me. Leave a review if you wouldn't mind, even if it is to say hello! Next chapter will hopefully be uploaded soon-ish. Until then though, TTYL! *thinking about getting a statue of myself done***


	9. Ghost of Winter

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Anu: Okay, so who is ready for some fun!**

 **Tolax: *shakes head* Just as long as Eden and Del don't get in the food for the Christmas party I'm fine.**

 **Authoress: *in some corner* Good thing they haven't noticed I haven't updated in a while.**

 **Melody: *behind Authoress* Oh Authoress, we need to talk, please.**

 **Authoress: *gulps* I'm dead.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Ghost of Winter

 **December 24th, 786**

 **Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

Six in the morning. Seemed too early for me to already be awake and going through the reports that I regularly get from Nero and Paralex about going ons that I might be interested in. Well, that wasn't quite the right way of saying that. It was more of the fact that I was going through and seeing what bits of information could turn into a mission that might not make it through to the Council, or might not get picked up by other guilds. That was especially now during the holiday season. While it would hurt to ask any of my guild members to leave for a mission on Christmas Eve of all days, I also knew that pain might not be nearly as bad as what someone else might suffer if I don't.

So, I dove into the papers as soon as I was awake. I even forewent my morning run that I had started doing lately. I found it helped me to wake up better in the mornings. And, as patrol did, it allowed anyone who wanted to talk with me about concerns, and who wanted to get up that early, could join me and we could talk.

Honestly, even though I thought this often, the guild had grown so much in this little time, compared to what I thought we would be at, and I was excited about how we were going to be moving forward. Once the original five members were ready to have the world, and mainly Fairy Tail, know about them then I did not doubt that we would be a guild to reckon with. Hell, with how we were progressing as a guild, I felt that given a few years we could rank high in the Grand Magic Games, if not win them outright.

Right now, we might qualify. With heavy-hitters like Narissa and Richard that would be a big advantage, and using Sorano, Edorin, and Sawyer as speed elements would give us an edge. Finally, to wrap up with the others we would have surprise all-around fighters in Tolax, Macbeth, Eric, Eden, and Del. Melody wouldn't want to participate since she was still working with her magic, and so I wouldn't make her. But, the guild wasn't ready to come out yet. I promised my first five members that they would be in control of when we went officially public. Yes, people knew of us, but we stayed out of the limelight until they were ready.

So, instead of focus on worldly needs that were outside of the guild, I decided that my focus had to be on what was going to be going on in the guild soon. Today was, of course, Christmas Eve and we were going to make sure we celebrated. It wouldn't be as big as our Halloween celebrations were, but we wanted to have fun as a guild and, with our numbers increased, I knew that this would be fun. I knew that, later today, Richard and Narissa were going to be going to look for a Christmas tree that we would all decorate tonight.

We all had gifts wrapped and placed in one of the spare rooms for now, until the tree arrived and was decorated. One for each member of the guild. Stockings for each member of the guild had been hung on the railing on the second floor above the bar. We had Melody to thank for those. During slow times, she had worked on sewing each of our names into stockings that we picked out. While I was responsible for filling the stockings of the members, last year I was pretty sure that Melody had been the one to fill my stocking. I was curious as to who was going to fill it this year.

Melody was going to be working with Sorano and Edorin later with making the eggnog and some finger foods for the guild members to enjoy. Del, Sawyer, and Eden would be working on decorating the rest of the guildhall while Tolax, Macbeth, and Eric were going to be working on finding games and other activities for us to play. Eden and Del wanted to help with the foods and drinks but, after they spiked last year's food and drinks to have a 'first Christmas that we wouldn't forget' as they so elegantly put it the evening of Christmas day when we all finally woke up, that was a no-go. So, they were no longer allowed near anything that was going to be consumed.

Now, with three more members added to the guild, I knew that this Christmas was going to be a crazy party. Just as long as I didn't have to deal with cuddly female slayers again I would be alright. They were very cuddly and clingy when they were passed out and, when I had eventually woke up the next morning, I had a very difficult time getting them off of me so I could go to the restroom.

A certain set of words flashed out at me when I was flipping through the notes on my desk and I pulled myself out of my thoughts to focus on them. Oak Town. That name rang volumes for me. Back when I had been a dark mage, many of my assignments had either come from that town or had been to take out people in that town. Out of all the places that I had gone, out of all the places, I had hurt, I could probably say that a lot of the damage I did was centered on that town...whether that was me being sent there or me being sent out from there.

With the thoughts of the past in my mind, I took out that sheet and had a closer look at it. It was a rejected request from the Council. From the numerous denied marks, it was rejected multiple times. From the original date of the request, it had been sent out two weeks ago.

They were asking for help because a dark guild had set up shop right outside of town and was keeping the town under siege in powerful ice magic. They probably risked sneaking out just to get this request out.

I had heard that Oak Town had received an unusual amount of winter weather but, given its location and the time of year it was, I hadn't thought much on it.

But now that didn't matter. The people of Oak Town needed help and I wanted to send my mages there to help. They shouldn't have to suffer like this...especially on Christmas Eve.

So, with the rejected request in hand, I went to stand at the balcony that looked down onto the main floor. To my surprise, Macbeth seemed awake, though only just so. Wonder what got him up so early? Next to him, and not so surprisingly, was Tolax. Both Tolax and his demon Sebastian were early risers. Besides them and myself, the only other person awake was Melody, and she was behind the counter working. So hopefully I could convince the two men down there to take this request.

"You look tense Anu. What is it?" Tolax asked me as he stared up at me.

I sighed and jumped down so I was standing next to the guys by the counter. Once I knew I wasn't going to lose my balance, I held the paper out for them to see. "I was going through the information from Nero and Paralex and I came across this rejected request form."

Macbeth then took the paper and looked it over. "So, we need to get to Oak Town and stop whatever idiot dark guild decided to do this during the holidays?" I nodded. That was pretty much it in a nutshell.

Tolax smirked and finished his coffee before standing up. "Sounds like fun. I'm in." I knew that he was talking about both himself and Sebastian. "Plus, no one should be attacked during the holidays...and especially not the day before Christmas."

Macbeth nodded at that. "Plus, since we're leaving early, we should be able to get to Oak Town, take out the guild attacking them, and get back to the guild before Eden and Del school everyone in the euchre tournament."

Last week's euchre tournament ended with Eden and Del taking the top prize by a landslide. I was still sore about that. I enjoyed euchre and didn't like to lose.

"Good. Because we might need some team switches to keep Eden and Del away from taking first by that much again." I responded to the two before the nodded toward me and walked out the doors. While it did hurt to send them off the day before Christmas, I knew that the people of Oak Town would appreciate their help.

 **James' 1st P.O.V.**

It hurt to breathe. This contraption that they had me hooked up to, it was sapping my magical energy from me. And not just that. It was forcing that energy to come out as a source of magic. My magic. It was at the edge of my fingertips, and yet I could do nothing with it. Nothing, as this machine, siphoned it out of my body. It was painful, each time they used it.

I felt so pathetic!

With all the magic ability I had, I had not been able to stop these dark mages from ambushing me outside of Oak Town and trapping me here. My magic...it was being used to hurt people. I couldn't fool myself into thinking that they were just storing it away. While that would make me feel better, I just knew that wasn't the case. My magic was too wild outside of my control to be contained and so the only thing left for this guild to do was use it.

While I had lost track of the time that it was, I had a feeling that it was getting close to Christmas. My magic, magic to make winter a little more special for people around me, was probably being used to ruin that holiday for the people of Oak Town. It wasn't fair! I wanted to stop them! I wanted this dark guild to be no more and for the people of Oak Town to not have to suffer because of my magic.

But, I couldn't, and they were suffering.

I winced slightly as I felt this damn machine activating. Shit! They were using it again! My magic! A gasp escaped my throat as the machine started to force my magic out of my body. Sweat started to drip down the front of my body and I felt myself shake. But, the shaking wasn't only from pain. It was of sadness. These monsters were using my magic right now to hurt the people of Oak Town. They didn't deserve this!

My eyes tried to focus on the doors in front of me as I heard them open. Those same eyes, though, narrowed as I saw one of the dark guild mages walking up to me with a smirk on his face. That damn bastard! I hoped that karma came around and got him.

"So, how's Frosty doing today? Things in here hot enough for you?" I growled as he said that. While the increased heat of this room wasn't affecting me like they were probably hoping that it was, it did make the rest of what they were doing to me with this machine even worse. It caused my breathing to shorten when they upset me, so over the time I had been here, I had practiced controlling my breathing, and other reactions to their taunts, so the pain I was in would not be so great.

I wasn't hoping for a rescue. I knew it was humanly impossible for me to be rescued. This machine was hooked up to me in such a way that, if any tried to remove it who wasn't this damn dark guild master, it would kill me. That wasn't the only problem, however. That damn guild master had made it so she had to release me from this damned torture device willingly. No influence spells or strong-arming allowed, or the machine would kill me.

It wasn't that I was afraid to die. If it wasn't for this machine restraining me, I would have killed myself instead of continuing to be a power source to be used against the innocent people of Oak Town. There was a famous quote I heard once that said that having power came at a cost...and that would be mine. I had great power, and now the only way to stop me from hurting those people was for me to die.

"Go to hell." I hissed at the dark guild mage as he put himself at eye level in front of me.

In return, the mage laughed and said, "No thanks. There is only enough room here for you. But, I thought you might want to know what day it is. I bet that it gets hard to keep track of time here in hell all alone." A growl slipped my throat at his smug attitude. Please fate, I knew that I was going to die because of this, but at least let karma bite these pieces of shit hard in the ass. Once the mage was back by the door, he smirked before saying, "Merry Christmas Eve iceman, and I hope it's a warm one for ya." He then let out a laugh before leaving.

But, I couldn't find it in me to react to his laugh. No, it was his words that I was reacting to. I knew that Christmas had to be near, but I didn't realize that it was already Christmas Eve. I felt the pain that wasn't from the machine flash through my heart. I was hurting so many people during what was supposed to be a time of giving. Instead of giving joy to the people of Oak Town, I was creating a horror tale of ice and cold.

A scream ripped from me as that thought blazed through my head. No! I didn't want to do this! I didn't want to hurt them! They didn't deserve this! Instead of being someone who could make a person's Christmas a little better, I was becoming the monster that they feared, a wyvern coming out of the ice and snow, in the black of night, to destroy their holidays. I would be the nightmare that children from here would have about the monster that destroyed Christmas. That is all I was now...a monster.

...A monster!

Again, a scream ripped out of me as I bent my head down, my body moving slightly forward. While I was aware of the pain that my body was going through, I couldn't feel it. Something like me couldn't feel it. As blood started to mix with the sweat that was already on my body, I realized something. I was a monster...I had to be stopped…

...no matter the cost.

 **Tolax's 1st P.O.V.**

" _Something is going on,"_ Sebastian commented to me as Macbeth and I moved toward the ice and snow toward the dark guild.

Hours on the train to get to Oak Town and, about three miles from town, we found ourselves facing the start of an ice kingdom. That was what this outside had looked like. The evergreen trees were so covered in ice that they were white, and even with my soft steps, the ground beneath me crackled with each step. When we arrived in town, we were greeted with almost sub-zero temperatures and I was grateful that this town had opened up an outlet of Ehrlich Magic stores and they had decently priced winter wear that, while I was still cold walking now, the clothes were able to keep the harshness of the cold out of the way.

When we had finally found the original sender of the request, the local seamstress who had snuck out the request with her order that she was able to get out to Crocus, she explained that the dark guild, called Peppermint Shade, had arrived about a month ago and had started to make demands of the city to allow them to have a spot in town to run their operations. But, after all the different messes that the town has been involved with in the past, the people refused the guild. That was when this winter siege had started.

The people agreed to reward us for the mission, though it was not officially sent out from the Council. When we asked if they wanted us to help cut back the ice too, they said that it wouldn't be necessary. They had a couple of fire mages who were saving up their magic energy and putting some in lacrimas when they were full, so when the constant ice was over, then they could melt enough so it wasn't a prison to them. When we asked why the fire mages hadn't attacked the ice before, we were told by the blacksmith, one of the fire mages, that they had tried but when they started to make progress and melt the ice, the dark guild would just have more ice come out. So, they were building their stores until they would make a difference against the ice.

Since we didn't want to waste time, Macbeth and I moved out right away toward their headquarters, since the guild didn't make any attempt to hide. Guess they figured that this ice magic they had tapped into was powerful enough to keep anyone from actually getting close to the guild. Well, Macbeth and I were going to be a rude awakening for them.

But, back to what Sebastian spoke of. _"You're right. It's too quiet. You would think that the guild would be celebrating. But, I can't sense anything outside of the magic being used for this cold. Are they hiding their magic energies behind a barrier or is this ice magic signature just overwhelming their magic?"_

"You know, I might not talk often, but you could include me in your internal talks with Sebastian." Macbeth suddenly spoke up as the guild came into view.

I flinched at that. Since it had just been Sebastian and me for the longest time, I wasn't used to having other people around who needed to be kept informed. "Sorry, Macbeth. We're just worried that we can't sense any other magic signatures than the ice magic."

"That is worrying. It might be a cost to this ice magic. It is powerful enough that it could be smothering the signatures of the other magic inside." Macbeth put in as we grew closer to the doors.

Once we were standing in front of the doors, I smirked before motioning to the door. "Since you make a bigger statement than I do, would you like the honors?"

Macbeth simply nodded before gathering his magic and throwing the doors off their hinges, causing the forty members that we could see to jump and stare at us in surprise. "So, how do you want to do this?" I asked Macbeth as we stared at the now tense members.

He looked and said, "I'm sure I can handle this lot. Take out who you can and find the source of the ice magic. Take it out."

With a nod, the two of us moved and I made my way to a door at the back of the room. There had to be a special place here where they were releasing the magic. _"Sebastian, can you trace the magic output from the ice magic?"_ I asked him as we moved through the door. A dark guild member went to strike me and I pushed him away.

As I continued to move past the random dark guild members that would appear, Sebastian responded. " _Yes. Follow this hall to the end and then take a right."_ I did before he continued. " _Three doors down on your left. That's where the signature is strongest."_ He finished his instructions.

Once I arrived at the door, I didn't waste any time and drew on Sebastian's strength before knocking the door off its hinges. As it went sliding across the floor, I felt my eyes widen in surprise. There, chained into place in the center of the room, was a guy about my age with light blue hair and blue eyes. Those eyes stared at me in hope as I took a couple of steps toward him.

Cuts littered his body and there were wires and tubes dug into his body that seemed to be siphoning something out. Though what it was I wasn't sure. But, I could see that this guy was in pain and I wanted to help take that away. "I was wondering when some mages would get ahold of that request the townspeople kept sneaking out." I tensed and turned to see a woman who looked a few years older than I was with peppermint green hair and brown eyes. "Though I must admit that seeing a past member of the Oracion Seis and his lackey was surprising, to say the least."

" _She just called us Macbeth's lackey. I want her head."_ Sebastian growled as I kept tense.

"I'm not much of a lackey. More like a guildmate." I corrected her as stared between her and the guy.

She seemed to notice my glance and smirked. "Whatever you are, it won't matter in this case. I see you are interested in James here." She then walked up to him and lightly grazed her hand against his bare arm, causing him to growl and glare at her. "It was difficult getting a footing around this area at first. The foolish people in Oak Town saying that they were done with us 'shady types'." She then let out a haughty laugh. "I almost gave up when I ran into James here. Stopping a troll from attacking a group of travelers with a wave of his hand. The power that his ice had was what I needed. While acquiring him was no easy feat, I have made sure that my power source here continues to operate." She then patted his arm, causing this James to try and finch away with a continued glare and growl.

But, she had just revealed something that surprised me and Sebastian, from how he was conveying his reaction to me. "James is the power source?" I asked.

This guild leader let out a cackle at that. "Of course! Do you think any of those fools in there are half as powerful enough to bring an entire town to its knees by themselves?" She then shook her head. "But, there is nothing you can do about it."

Okay, I had heard enough of her talk. Deciding on a surprise attack, I quickly launched at the woman and knocked her back. She was not ready for the attack and was knocked to the ground. "I wouldn't be too sure about that," I commented to her. Before she could recuperate, I pulled on Sebastian's strength and bound her in some scrap metal that was lying around. This must have been a storehouse before this dark guild turned it into their hideout.

With her bound, for now, I turned to James and walked up to examine the machine. The cables were dug into him and I wasn't sure how I would be able to free him. _"This is set up to kill him if the key doesn't willingly release him. And, from how she was acting earlier, I think that woman is the key."_ I felt my brows furrow. This would be a complicated system.

Chuckling coming from the bound woman caused me to look at her. "It's no use. I'm the only one who can release James, and I plan on drawing from his power for as long as he is alive!" She then started to laugh maniacally.

A growl slipped my throat and I went to say something to her. "Please...kill me." I turned with wide eyes to look at the man James. He was looking up at me with pleading eyes that were brimming with tears. "My magic...it's hurting so many people. I want it to stop. The only way you can do that is to take me out! Please! Kill me!" This man was ready to die instead of letting this woman, or anyone in control of the key to this machine, use him like this.

Honestly, this mage was a man that I already found myself respecting. But, his death was not the answer to this problem. "James, there is no need for you to die this day. You will be free. Once you are, will you agree to talk with my guildmate and me after we bind all of these dark guild mages for the rune knights?"

James' eyes widened in shock and, even though he didn't speak, I could see the hope...even if slightly fleeting, in his eyes. _"I think you broke him,"_ Sebastian commented. A disbelieving snort pulled my attention back to the quim that was getting on my nerves. " _I can kill her if you want. I'll make it as enjoyable as possible."_

" _No."_ I immediately refused him, though it was a tempting idea. _"We are in a light guild, as on the fringes as we are, and that means no killing people we don't like."_

" _You're no fun."_ Sebastian pouted.

I didn't pay much attention to him, though, as the dark guild master spoke. "That's an empty promise and you know it, you tool. Anything you do to try and free him will kill him, and then your light guild will be marked with a large, dark, spot made of James' blood."

My gaze stayed on her, though I did not convey any emotion through it. " _Once James is freed, knock her out. No killing...but maiming will be overlooked."_

If I wasn't used to feeling Sebastian's reactions inside of me, I would have flinched when his evil smirk grew. " _Deal."_

"You are right on only one point you lackluster crone," I growled at her as I took a step away from James and faced her. "I cannot remove James from your trap without killing him, and my guildmate cannot either." I then raised my arms to my side and started to gather my magic power. "However, wherever I go, I am not alone. I can always be found, and I can never escape what resides inside of me. Of course," I then smirked as I felt the power inside of me get close to the level I needed. "that would only be if I wanted to run from it."

Her eyes were growing wide, probably from sensing my magic power. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that James was in a similar state. "W...what are you?" The guild master asked with a quiver in her voice.

As my power reached the level it needed to be at for the spell, I tilted my head to the side slightly. "I am not some lackey." I then paused for effect before Sebastian and I spoke as one. " _Daemonium anima commutation."_ I then felt my body start to shift to the form that Sebastian chose when he first contracted with me.

From inside Sebastian, I watched as the dark guild master's pupils grew smaller in fear at Sebastian. From the awareness I had inside of Sebastian, James was only faring slightly better. I paid attention, however, as Sebastian answered her. "We are the Demon of Jackal Fang."

 **Macbeth's 1st P.O.V.**

It was strange when the cold air that we had been going against suddenly disappeared. The coat that I was wearing that we had bought suddenly felt like overkill. So, I took it off and, after rolling it up, placed it in my pack. Around me, the forty members of the dark guild were detained and now I had just been waiting for Tolax to return from taking out the power source before the sudden shift in the air told me that he had done it.

"I am so glad that is over." I let out as I leaned against the pillar behind me. I was starting to get sleepy and I was planning on using the train ride back to Dawn City to catch up on that sleep. That way, I could stay up after midnight tonight and enjoy the Christmas Eve celebration at the guild. Anu already promised that the dragon girls were not going to be allowed near the food before it was time to serve.

A throaty chuckle caught my attention so I turned my gaze to one of the dark mages that were restrained. "No matter how the light tries to burn, there is always a shadow lying in wait."

What was this about? "What do you mean?" I questioned the mage.

He let out a chuckle. "Spear was right. It's easy to darken a light guild if you use the right bait. Hope you enjoyed being a light guild mage while you could. Your buddy in there just made sure that your light won't ever shine as brightly." He then started to laugh.

And now I felt worried. Tolax had gone after the power source and, with the sudden change in temperature that I had just felt, that meant that he had taken it down. From how this dark guild mage was talking, Tolax would have had to do something illegal for light guilds to do. There weren't many ideas coming to mind about what he could have done, but none of those ideas were good.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that."

I glanced to the doorway that Tolax had gone through earlier, as did the dark mage that was speaking to me, and I saw that he was dragging a woman who I assumed was the guild master with his right hand. On his left, though, he was supporting a guy who looked about our age and looked pretty rough. Honestly, he looked halfway to death's door.

"Impossible!" The mage that had just caused me to worry about what Tolax had done spoke in shock. He pointed to the man next to Tolax while speaking. "I helped set up the machine! There was no way that you could have been released by anyone except the guild master without being killed! We made sure of it! It shouldn't be humanly possible!"

At his outburst, Tolax smirked. "Don't worry, I can assure you that you are quite right. It was quite inhumanly possible for me to rescue James here."

Well, that explained that mystery. This mage didn't have a very important piece of information. Well, since they were going to be taken away, I figured I could let him know just who else he was up against. "So, The Demon strikes again huh?" At my words, the mage lost all color to his skin and I could see, as I passed, that his eyes were wide. Guess Tolax did spread that moniker around when he was solo. Once Tolax deposited the guild master next to the other mages, I motioned to the door. "Should we get going then?"

Tolax nodded and, still supporting James, we made our way toward Oak Town. We had to report to the town that the mission was a success and catch the train back to Dawn City. "I already called the rune knights to pick them up," Tolax explained as the three of us moved through the ever-warming woods toward the city.

"That's good," I responded before looking at our third wheel. "And you are?"

I had heard his first name, but I was curious if he had a last name to go with it along with any other information that he might want to share. It seemed like he was as he nodded. "Of course, I didn't fully introduce myself during...that." He hesitated at that before continuing. "I am James Glasnic and I can use ice arc magic. I'm guildless for now but, one of these days, I would like to join a guild. I was going to move toward Dawn City and try looking there when I was ambushed by that guild."

Tolax and I shared a look, that I am sure James picked up on before I nodded toward Tolax. James would make a great addition to the guild, I was sure about that, and this could help the man avoid getting captured anymore.

However, before Tolax could ask the man our question, we arrived at the gates to the city and saw that the townspeople were already out working on pushing back the ice. "My thanks, Jackal Fang." Lillis, the seamstress who sent the mission, greeted us as she walked forward. In her hand was a bundle with our reward money.

Once she handed it to us, Tolax spoke to her. "Of course. Keep Jackal Fang in mind if you have any more missions."

"Of course." Was her response back to us before she returned to helping the workers chip away at the ice.

The three of us then started moving toward the train station again. As we walked, though, Tolax picked up the conversation that we had started before we arrived back to town. "I am Tolax Valkeri, as I introduced to you before, and this is my guildmate, Macbeth." I nodded toward him. "If you are interested, I know our guild would be happy to have you as a member."

We arrived at the ticket window at that point and, while Tolax and James paid for tickets, Tolax for myself and him, James spoke. "Jackal Fang? That woman thanked you by that name and I had been curious. I haven't heard of that guild before."

"We're a new guild," I answered him with a yawn. I needed a nap if I was going to be staying up late tonight.

Tolax, thankfully, took over for me. "Our guild master started the guild back in 785. We aren't big yet, but we want to grow."

James looked between the two of us as we stood to wait for the train to start boarding. After a few minutes, he finally sighed and nodded, a small smile just visible. "Well, after the display that Tolax gave when he and Sebastian saved me, how could I say no? Yes, I will join Jackal Fang."

Once the train arrived, I didn't hesitate in finding a room and, once the doors were closed, I was asleep. I, thankfully, slept the entire trip back to Dawn City and, once we arrived, the trip back to the guild felt longer than it was. Of course, it had been a pretty long day even by normal standards. Once we were in front of the doors to the guild, I looked at lacrima and realized that it was midnight. "We cut that kinda close," Tolax commented before he opened the door.

I saw the surprised look on James' face when, once the doors were opened, the guild all yelled "Merry Christmas!" It was kinda surprising to me as well but, given the time, we did arrive right on time.

Of course, it was hard to miss the third member of our party and soon, Anu was in front of us. "Tolax, Macbeth; I'm glad you both made it back alright and on time." He then turned his look to James. "And who is this?"

Tolax motioned to James before saying, "We brought you a new member dog. His name is James Glasnic and he has already agreed to join. He just needs his guild mark. James and I talked about the teams on the train ride here," Well, I had to miss something when I was asleep. "and he has decided to join Eden's team."

"Yes!" Eden yelled out before high-fiving Del and Edorin.

Anu was getting a guild stamp from behind the counter as Del nodded. "Sounds good. Welcome to Jackal Fang, and team Everfall, James!"

James smiled and nodded. "I'm glad to be a member." He then moved his hand and his magic caused ice to follow it. After a moment, the tree that was up and decorated now had added ice crystals giving it a shimmering look. "Merry Christmas Jackal Fang!"

* * *

 **Authoress: *Sitting in a chair facing corner* Am I done yet?**

 **Melody: *hums* No. You've had this and the next few chapters done for a while and I don't think it was nice to keep them from your readers.**

 **Authoress: But,**

 **Melody: *gives THE look***

 **Authoress: *mumbles and goes back to staring at corner***

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! Sorry for not updating this sooner, but the summer caught me by the horns and I couldn't find the time to get this updated. I hope you all enjoyed this! Please remember that this is a story about how the members joined Jackal Fang and won't give you everything about their pasts. That being said though, this chapter had some serious moments to them, but I think it all ended out alright in the end.**

 **So, eight chapters in. I think I will give you a list of the teams and who is on them (some, of course, are very small right now).**

 **Team Dark Angel: Tolax, Macbeth, Sorano.**

 **Team Heavenly Terra: Richard**

 **Unnamed Team: Sawyer**

 **Team Everfall: Eden, Del, Edorin, James**

 **Team Poison Song: Erik, Melody, Narissa**

 **Now, if you were trying to keep track, here is that list for you. From what I have counted, since there will be sixteen chapters (though there is no guarantee that every chapter will have a new member (though almost all will)) that means that this is the halfway point of the story! Of course, this is only the first story of a group that will come out about this guild. Now, for the next chapters!**

 **Chapter 9: Shadow of the Vampire**

 **Chapter 10: Honor**

 **Chapter 11: ...Find out next time!**

 **So, not much else to say. Please review, even to say hi, so I know that you are there reading this story. Also, cookie bribes are acceptable. I love me some cookies. XD Until next time (or as soon as I eat your cookies) TTYL! *destroying demons and other creatures as a monk***


	10. Shadow of the Vampire

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Melody: Well, this wasn't as long as a wait as the last update was.**

 **Authoress: See, I really try sometimes.**

 **Anu: Of course, you have had this done since April right?**

 **Authoress: *bolts***

* * *

Chapter 9: Shadow of the Vampire

 **January 17, 787**

 **Del's 1st P.O.V.**

I smirked as I glanced at the bone-powder drink in front of me. Melody made them special for me when I behaved and, since I had behaved lately...toward her, then I got the honor of getting this drink. She would spend a lot of time grinding bones to dust and then mixing them in with whatever substance I wanted and was appropriate for the time. Since it was about eight o'clock in the morning, that meant that it was mixed in with some coffee. It took a lot of bone powder to mix with the coffee though so I was even more appreciative of this drink. Raising the drink to my lips, I took a very gratifying drink and felt relaxed as the bone powder restored some of my magic reserves. That hit the spot just right.

Currently, besides myself, Melody, and Rosebud, the members of the guild who were currently here were Master Anu, Sorano, Sawyer, and Tolax. Erik, Eden, Pitch, and Narissa had taken a longer job out by Clover, something about a couple of dark guilds trying to team up. Richard and Macbeth were taking care of a rogue sea monster that had popped up near Hargeon, and James and Edorin were dealing with finding out how a thief was getting into a bank and catching him in Crocus. All interesting missions, but when they had all left for theirs a couple of days ago, I had just returned from a mission to Mt. Hakobe where I had to deal with some annoying wyvern.

So, now I was relaxing here at the bar and obviously thinking too much about everyone else.

"Del," I turned to Rosebud, who was on the counter next to me, as she spoke. "I think we need to take a mission soon.

I raised an eyebrow at her in return before speaking. "Why? Didn't you have enough fun with the wyvern?" I teased her at that because she definitely did not have fun with them. One of them tried to eat her and she was not happy about having a frozen tail.

Her frown at me at that confirmed that thought. "Not funny Del." She then let out a huff. "No, I just think that, with how much New Year dug into the guild account this year, that we should help get some funds returned." She crossed her arms and stared at me while saying this.

Impressively to me, I held the look for a bit before I looked away and sighed. I honestly really couldn't argue with her. New Year had been a big party and it had taken all of us a few days to recover from that. "Fine." I then grabbed my mug of bone coffee and finished it off in a gulp before leaving the necessary jewel for Melody. With Rosebud moving to my shoulder, I walked over to the request board to look at the jobs.

At first, though, nothing was really popping out at me. Help with lawn care, not such a great idea for an undead dragon slayer, help finding a book...no...just no, and so many other missions like those. I almost took down an escort mission, since it looked to be at least somewhat tolerable when I saw a mission that stood out. Taking it down, I read over it carefully.

 **Help Needed!**

 **A Lich is Gathering Forces Against Us**

 **Location: Communic**

 **Reward: 800,000 Jewel**

 **Please meet with Mayor Jacobo For More Details on Arrival**

Now, this was something up to my speed. Since we didn't have any unofficial requests, then this was the best looking actual request that went through the Council that I had seen in a while. A chance to really use my magic against something that would give me a challenge. Lichs were undead creatures that were both smart and powerful. Exactly the kind of mission that I was looking for.

But, as I continued to look at the mission, I knew better than to try and take it alone. Like I thought before, Lichs were both powerful and smart and, not only that, but they could summon minions to help in their work. If I was to focus on the Lich, then I would need more backup than Rosebud to take on the minions. Plus, a Lich rarely just spawned on their own. So, there would be a summoner that we would be dealing with as well.

With a glance around the room, at those of us remaining, I found my eyes falling on Sawyer. He was fast and strong enough to help take care of everything else while I was dealing with the Lich. Plus, it had been a while since I had taken a mission with him and this would be a lot of fun. "Hey, Sawyer!" I called over to him.

He looked up from talking with Sorano. "Yeah?" He shot back at me.

I held up the mission paper in my hand. "Want to come with me on this mission to take care of a Lich?"

In return, he spoke something to Sorano before he joined me. "Sure, sounds like fun."

So, with that confirmation, the two of us moved over to the bar and, since Melody probably heard me ask Sawyer to come with me, it didn't take her long to come over and, once she read the mission, she took the guild stamp that we kept under the bar for missions and stamped the request. Great. Now we had to get moving. "If I remember the times at Old Fort correctly," I started as we made our way out of the guild. "then, if we keep moving we can catch a ride from here to Oak Town and from there we can get to Communic."

"So, I don't know much about Lichs," Sawyer started as we continued. "but I got a feeling that we aren't going to be fighting it tonight."

Shaking my head at that, I filled him in. "No, Lichs have too much power at night. We'll have to start our attack once the sun is out tomorrow morning. It'll still be dangerous, though, and that means we'll have to be on guard. It will have minions and whoever decided to summon it will be trouble as well. If they have enough power to summon a Lich, then they will be a difficult fight."

As we continued to move through the valley, Sawyer seemed to understand what I was saying. "So, we need to focus on this. Got it." We made it to one of the clearings in the valley. "So, from how you are talking, it sounds like you've fought a Lich before."

I nodded as memories from my past came to me, and one in particular about when I was training with Setophis and he had sent me out for some night scouting, to improve my vision at night. I had been ten at the time. "Yeah. Was out on a training run from Setophis. It was night and I ran into the Lich messing with a trade caravan. It was a hard fight, and if it wasn't for a mage that was with the party, then I would have been overcome by the mage when he appeared. I got quite a lecture from Set when I got back to the cave about confronting a Lich without making a plan of attack." My mind flinched at that when I remembered that lecture. It wasn't a nice one. "Remember that lichs are their own being. They are summoned by a mage and have to obey the first order their summoner gives."

Sawyer looked thoughtful at that. "So, we might be able to convince this Lich to go against its summoner then."

While that could happen, I honestly doubted it. "Possibly, but unlikely. Lichs feed off of the magic of the summoner and can only stay in our plane from the dark world a short time after they are cut off from the magic. So, even if they do separate from the mage, it is not likely that it will want to help us fight the mage."

A disappointed sigh came from him as we continued to move. "Well, that sucks."

The two of us continued to move toward Old Fort and, once we were there, it wasn't long until we were in the air. The flight from Old Fort went smoothly and, once we touched the ground, we made our way to Communic. The town was a small town and, even though it was dark here as we moved to the hotel, I could see that the town was an organized town. That was either a really good thing or a really bad thing. We would find out when we met with the mayor in the morning.

As we approached the hotel, a chill went through my spine and I turned, on alert. It felt like something was watching us. But, I knew that I had to be imagining things. We arrived at night and, while a Lich was in the area, it wouldn't risk being in the middle of even a town like this. I doubted that it missed me coming into town. My own power levels and magic scent would keep it away.

So, why did I feel so uncomfortable right now?

"You okay Del?" Sawyer asked me as he paused in front of the doors to the hotel.

After staring into the darkness in front of me for a bit, I nodded. "Yeah, I'm alright." I then shook my head and turned to follow Sawyer inside. It was probably nothing.

 **Hope's 1st P.O.V.**

They are...interesting. The two obvious mages that I had observed walking into Communic. I didn't recognize the guild symbol that I saw on the back of the girl's neck. But, she was here. And he was here. And, even though I didn't have the proof yet from my shades, I had a feeling that they were here to take out the Lich. I couldn't let them. Not yet. I wasn't done with him yet and he wasn't done with me.

But, they did look interesting. The male looked like a previous dark guild mage, Racer, that should be in prison from the last information I had. But, the girl was strangely familiar to me as well. I couldn't remember where from, but she was. Maybe I needed to dig through my thoughts some more. However, that was not important now. My own goals and that of the Lich would be hindered if the two mages that just arrived caused us issues.

Jumping down from my view on the church steeple, I made my way out of town. The shadows, as they had since I was five, clung to my own shadow as I moved further into the woods. That incident all those years ago changed me...and while I couldn't go back and change what happened, I could keep moving forward.

Red eyes flashed in my mind as memories from that day so long ago moved through the shadows in my mind. A small house in the woods, a happy husband and his wife taking care of their two little girls who couldn't have been happier. A flash of lightning on a dark night. Screams, cries, and dark laughter were sounds that I wouldn't forget. The sight of flesh being torn from the bone, blood spraying in all directions. The feeling of long fingers with sharp unbreakable nails as they wrapped around my neck, squeezing as those same red eyes showed a hungry glee that the monster seemed to feel. The pain of sharp fangs grazing and slightly piercing my neck.

I snapped myself out of those thoughts as I arrived at a clearing that was shrouded in shadows. This was where the Lich was hiding for now. "What information do you have?" A soft but dark voice asked me from the shadows.

Staying standing tall, I answered him. "The town has sent a request to get rid of you. Two guild mages arrived just a little bit ago. I feel that they are here to take on that request."

The shadows in the area seemed to flinch at that. "I felt the presence of one that will cause me trouble not long ago. It must be one of the mages. Do you think that they can be persuaded to our cause?"

With the recent intake and outtake of mages that have tried to take on this mission, and our efforts to convert them, then I had my doubts. "Probably not. One looks like a mage that, as far as I know, should be in prison as a dark mage. But, he walks about freely so I need more information on him."

"That is time we do not have." The voice answered back. "These mages will probably act quickly and that will not even give you ample time to gather the information you need. No, we will have to take them out and we will have to be cautious in doing so. If this mage is still a dark mage, he will cause us difficulty. That is especially if he is the one that I sensed."

"I'll keep him distracted when they come while you deal with his companion." I offered him. "Then, we can both cooperate and tag team the dark mage." We would have to be prepared. From what I could sense from the two mages, they would be a challenge. Not impossible to beat, but a challenge.

The shadows slightly shrank away from me for a moment. "Very well. You will return before the sun rises?" I was asked.

In return, I nodded. "Yes. I will. If they have done their research into this mission, then that is when they will come for you. But, for now, I will be going to where I am staying. I shall see you tomorrow." The feeling of the shadows returning to my own shadow told me that the Lich was now gone.

After all the work that I had been doing lately, I wasn't going to let the mages ruin what we have moved toward and what we were willing to lose. But, as angry as I was with the mages for coming to stop us, it didn't stop thoughts that I had about joining a guild. For quite some time, I wondered what it would be like. But, then I found myself in this situation and it reminded me that, even though being in a guild would be nice, I couldn't see myself being in a place that could just blindly follow the words on a piece of paper without finding out the entire situation. I couldn't put myself in that sort of block. There was more going on with this situation and until I found a place that didn't act like its mages were soldiers blindly following orders I would remain without a guild.

When I arrived at the bed and breakfast that I was renting for the past few months, I used my key and walked inside. Not making a sound, I moved up the stairs and, once I was in my room, I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes.

As I drifted off to sleep, I let my mind wander to the mages that we were going to be facing tomorrow. We would have to be careful about facing them. We were so close to having the evidence we needed. But, if these mages caused problems, then they could unravel a month of hard work and determination that we had collected. We just needed a little more time...just a little more time.

 **January 18, 787**

 **Sawyer's 1st P.O.V.**

"Sawyer...I am going to murder you." Del grumbled to me as we moved to the mayor's office.

Thankfully, I wasn't the only one that seemed to be against Del. "But, you were the one who said we had to get up early so we had time to check in with the mayor and then go and hunt the Lich." Rosebud added in my defense as she flew above the two of us as we walked to the mayor's office.

Getting Del up this morning had not been fun and, when I finally got her up, I had been the target of growls and glares galore. When we finally did confront this Lich, it had better just fall down and give up. If it got her upset, then the battle was going to be vicious. It almost made me feel sorry for the Lich.

Almost.

Anyways, as we walked down the cobblestone streets, Del shook her head. "Fine, I guess you have a point. And the continental breakfast was pretty good." Of course, that might be the only time that I bet the hotel staff has ever seen a person more excited about the bones in the chicken then the actual regular food itself. Seriously, Del had been too excited about that. In her defense, however, the bones would help give her a power boost in the fight against the Lich that was coming up.

It didn't mean that those hotel workers weren't scarred for life now.

"No kidding it was." Hey, just because Del had scarred them all, that didn't mean that I didn't agree with her. It was a good bit of food.

After a few minutes of walking down the main street, I looked to see a building with a large steeple-like fixture that had a clock on the front. The ding that rang at eight o'clock caused me to flinch when it got a growl out of the slightly grumpy dragon slayer next to me. I really hoped that this mission didn't cause any anger issues in Del.

Once we walked inside, I saw a man who was about five foot eight and had silver hair and blue eyes, though he looked young, walking up with a woman who was about five foot five with orange hair and brown eyes. Once our two groups stopped in front of each other, the man held out his hand. "Hello, I am Mayor Jacobo. This is my assistant Kitty Gardner. Are you the mages we hired?" Something about how he was speaking seemed off but, he could just be worried and letting that interfere.

So, Del and I showed them our guild marks before she spoke. "Yeah, we're your mages. So, anything else you can tell us about this mission?"

Instead of the mayor answering, his assistant looked down from her glasses at the clipboard she was holding. "Only that the Lich is to the north of town and it seems like his summoner stays out there with him as well."

"Anything on the summoner?" I asked her.

The assistant paused for a moment and that uneasy feeling returned before she spoke. "Nasty piece of work that one. Saw her a few times and you could just see the evil coming off of her. Bat shit crazy was just coming off of her in waves." Kitty then shivered. "But her summoning powers are to be reckoned with. From what I saw from her, she has summoned creatures from the dark world that make the Lich look like child's play. You should be careful."

So, we could possibly be dealing with more than just the Lich. Shit, this was going to be difficult. But, this was what we were hired for and I was sure that we would be able to handle it. "We should be alright. Thank you for your concern though." I then motioned to Del before the two of us walked out.

"That was...weird," Del commented as we moved toward the north of town. "Was it just me or was that a really...stale conversation?"

Glad I wasn't the only one that noticed how that conversation went. "You're right about that. The mayor literally looked like he had a stick shoved up his ass and that assistant looked like she was almost excited to be giving us all that information."

"Of course," Del added. "she could have been excited that something was happening, no matter how difficult this situation is." Well, she did make a point. This kind of thing did not happen a lot for a lot of people. So, with this situation, she might be a little excited about something big happening...as weird as it was.

When we entered the woods, I felt a shiver run down my spine. Like I was being watched. It wasn't a good feeling at all. Reminded me of times when I was 'Racer' with the Seis. Not a good feeling now that I was a member of a light guild. It probably meant that something was going to come after me. This was not going to be a good thing if it was the summoner. We couldn't let her keep the two of us here when that Lich was still out there.

"Did you feel that?" I asked Del, just to make sure that I wasn't going crazy.

Even before she spoke, I could see the tension in both Rosebud and Del. That meant that not only did she sense it, but she was ready to combat it on pure instinct alone. "Yeah, it is surrounding us. But, it doesn't feel like a Lich. It has to be the summoner...and she has to be close." Crap this wasn't good.

Glancing around the woods, senses taking over, I motioned forward. "Go ahead and find the Lich. You know more about it and can fight it. I'll stay back and keep the other half busy until you get back." She looked hesitant. "Go Del I'll be fine. I've lived this long, a second rate mage like this shouldn't be that difficult." Del finally nodded and ran ahead.

Once I felt like she was out of the danger area, I activated my slowing magic to give me an edge on whatever this fight was going to be. Once I felt like I had spread my magic far enough, I stayed tense as I took a step…

...and immediately dodged as the shadows lashed out in front of me. "I can assure you, I am no second rate mage." I turned at the female voice and felt myself shiver as the woman stepped out of the shadows. Standing at least at six foot two, the long black haired red eyed girl...woman, walked toward me with shadows dancing at her feet. "That's smart words coming from a dark mage who should be in prison."

I flinched at her reminder of my past but shook it off. Something wasn't settling right with me about her just yet. "That was in the past. I've been let out and I'm part of a legal guild. Whatever you're planning to do to Communic with that Lich isn't going to happen."

Her red eyes narrowed at me and I had to dodge as move shadows attacked me. "You can't stop us now. We are too close!" She then charged at me.

It was when she reached me and I had to dodge her that I realized what was bothering me about her. "You aren't being slowed by my magic!" I exclaimed as I dodged another one of her strikes, barely, and struck out at her.

She dodged and smirked. "Oh, you are slowing me alright. But, I'm not your average person. This is slow for me." I then flinched as she struck out at me again with the shadows.

The two of us then continued to trade blows in my slow time area. This was crazy! How was this slowed down for her? It was like I was fighting her regularly. If this was slow for her, then she had to be something more than human. There was definitely human in her, but something else was in her DNA that allowed her to be this fast. "What are you?" I asked her as I dodged another of her strikes.

Her red eyes hardened at that. "I was born human. But, when I was young, a vampire attacked my family. It slaughtered everyone else and tried to turn me. But, I was saved by another vampire. However, the damage had already been done to my genetic code and, while I didn't get turned into a full vampire, I am no longer fully human."

Well, that was pretty forthcoming from a person who had summoned a Lich to attack this town. "And why in the hell did you just tell me all that?" I asked her as she dodged one of my attacks. "I mean, is this the whole bad guy give up their plan speech?"

She paused and backed up, which caused me to do the same before she studied me. "I am not the bad guy, as you so eloquently put it, here. And neither is the Lich."

Well, I guess if she was going to tell me her evil plan, I had better hear it. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes narrowed, and I noticed the shadows around her flinch slightly, and so I tensed for an attack. However, she didn't attack. "A month ago, I was passing through town when I heard that the mayor's sister, Aldith, had been attacked by a creature of shadows and had been sent to Crocus for healing. I sensed the power of a Lich and so I came here to defeat it. However, the Lich wasn't what I was expecting. It looked hurt that it had attacked Aldith but, if you know anything about Lichs then you know that,"

"they have to obey the first order their summoner gives them." I finished for her. Del did tell me that when we had been coming to Communic and, so far, this woman's story was making sense.

The eyes of the woman glinted at that, though I wasn't sure why, before she continued. "Yes. So, his order had been to make Aldith sick, though not kill her outright, and then hide out here. He can't leave here, since his summoner told him not to in that first order, and so he asked me to help figure out who his summoner was."

"You mean that you aren't the summoner?" I asked, just to make sure that I was hearing her correctly.

"Right." She sighed. "There have been a number of mages that have come through here and, each time, I use one of my shades to trick them into thinking that they have taken out the Lich. But, it doesn't fail that more come. That just tells us that his summoner is in the town and is able to send out the requests." She then paused and stared at me. "Do you actually believe me?"

Honestly, I did. Maybe it was too much time with the mutt, or maybe it was being around the other guild members. I wasn't sure. But, she didn't seem like she was lying. "Yeah. I don't think you are lying about your story and this mission has been giving me a bad feeling since the beginning. We can help you find the summoner."

Her eyes were wide when I said that. "Are you serious? You're a part of a light guild. Don't you have to finish your request, no matter what?"

I smirked at her question before shrugging my shoulders. "Jackal Fang isn't your normal guild. We take both unofficial requests and official ones. Our guild master gives us full judgment on our missions and, if we feel like something is hinky about it, like this one, then we can go against it." I then paused and thought about the wording on the request. "Of course, the actual request didn't specify that we had to defeat the Lich or its helpers. It just asked for help because the Lich was gathering forces against the town. From the information I have on Lichs, then they won't last long once the magic its summoner is feeding it is cut off."

She nodded. "Ten minutes tops if they resist the pullback to the dark world. Ix is ready to return though, so he will probably disappear right away." She then studied me. "It looks like I was wrong about light guild mages. You aren't all mindless drones at the command of the council."

I laughed at that, thinking about the mutt and our other members. "Yeah, our guild isn't exactly a normal guild."

In return, she nodded and walked up to me. She stared at me for a moment, seemingly studying me, and I felt nervous. Was trusting her like this a bad idea, or was there something I was forgetting. It really felt, now that I was thinking about this, that I was forgetting something important. But, what could I forget right now that would be nagging me?

The girl's eyes widened for a second and stayed wide. "Where did your guildmate go?"

Oh shit Del! She was fighting the Lich and she didn't know that they were really on our side. "We have to find the Lich. Del went to fight it while I distracted you! This is not good!"

The girl moved in a direction and so, taking down my magic, I followed her. As we ran though, it seemed like I wasn't the only one with questions. "Why are you so worried about your guildmate? You were the one with the power that we detected. Dark mages, even ex-dark mages always put off more power than other mages. You ex-dark mages have more power than regular mages."

I shook my head at that. "Maybe in most guilds, but as I said before, Jackal Fang is a little different than most guilds. And ex-dark guild mages don't even have more power in our guild compared to a number of our mages. Del is one who is more powerful than I am. She's a slayer."

"Dragonslayer?" The girl asked me in shock, though there was a worry in her tone.

Nodding, I continued to follow her. "And not just any dragon slayer. The undead dragon slayer."

That caused a choke to come out of the woman. "Undead!? We need to get to Ix now!"

An explosion shook the ground beneath us and, even though the situation was iffy, I had to smirk. "Just follow the explosions. That'll lead you to Del."

She gave me a strange look at that before she shook her head and we continued moving toward where Del should be. If Del was one thing, it was dependable when trying to find her. That girl did not do anything quietly. As this girl and I arrived at the battle scene, I could see a couple of things. One was that Del was completely focused on her fight, which was good and bad. Good if this was a normal fight, but bad since it was almost impossible to snap her out of it.

A flash of pink in front of me reminded me of that almost part.

"Sawyer, what's going on? Who's that?" Rosebud asked me.

"I'll explain in a bit." I comforted the exceed. "First, I need you to stop Del from attacking the Lich. We didn't have the full story before. Can you snap your dragon out of the battle drive she's in?"

The exceed looked between us and Del before she nodded. "Give me a minute." She then flew down.

While she did, I turned to the girl and realized something. "So, I don't have your name. I'm Sawyer." I then held out my hand to her.

She stared at me before taking my hand. "Hope...Hope Ravensmith." The two of us shook hands as a yelp came down from below.

"Damn it Rosebud what do you want?" Del growled as she paused. In turn, Rosebud pointed toward us and Del looked. "What the hell is going on Sawyer?"

Hope and I moved over to Del, and Ix the Lich hesitantly moved toward Hope and me. Once the four of us were gathered, with Rosebud on Del's shoulder, I spoke. "Hope didn't summon Ix here, and they want to take out his summoner." I then recounted, with Hope and Ix's help, the circumstances that brought us up to her.

A huff came out of Del once we were done before she sat on the ground. "Figures the one legit mission I've taken in months turns out to be a messed up one." She then looked between the three of us. "So who's the summoner?"

Hope and Ix exchanged a glance before Ix spoke. "We have narrowed it down to someone in the mayor's office. But, between the mayor and his assistant...we just don't know."

As I thought about everything we knew, and what happened when we went into the main hall, I realized just who it was. But, I didn't have enough actual proof. I would need the person responsible to slip on their own. "I think I do." The other three looked at me before I continued. "But, I'll need you all to trust me."

 **Hope's 1st P.O.V.**

As I walked into town with Del and Sawyer, I found myself curious. All the other guild mages that I had come across during my life always acted like drones doing whatever missions the Council allows through. But, this Jackal Fang guild seemed to have a different sort of mage, if what Sawyer and Del were showing was any indication. They had been on this mission, fighting us, but Sawyer had allowed me to tell him what was really going on. Then, once that exceed was able to snap Del out of her battle drive, something that was hard to snap slayers out of from what I have heard, then she had listened as well.

Jackal Fang. I hadn't heard about the guild before. Must be a new guild. I knew a lot about guilds that were around. Even some more obscure ones like Jade Shadow, Eaglebow, and Moonfall. But, this Jackal Fang was not on my radar. I think that they deserved a look.

That is especially since, as we moved closer to the mayor's office, I still hadn't figured out which of the two, the mayor or his assistant, was responsible for bringing Ix out of the dark world and who wanted the mayor's sister to get sick. Both had a motive, from the studying that I had done, but that meant nothing if you didn't have proof. Many people had motives to do a lot of things, but it didn't make a difference about motive if they didn't act on it.

But, Sawyer seemed positive that he knew who did it and, that with just me coming into town and meeting up with the mayor and his assistant, that he would have the proof that he would need to say one hundred percent who the guilty party was. Maybe something happened when they first checked in with the mayor that I didn't know about. But, if that was the case, then why did Del look just as confused as I did when Sawyer said that he would know who it is?

That guy, he seemed to be much more open than I would picture for someone who was a past dark guild member. After this was done, I would have to find out where this guild of theirs was. It would probably be a good fit for me. I figured that, since the two mages that I had met so far were good mages, then I would learn to like the other mages as well. Since he was in the guild as well, I also had a feeling that others who had dark guild pasts were in the guild as well. Well, my own past wasn't so pure so I was sure we would all get along eventually.

Glancing at Sawyer, I realized that was a very strong possibility.

We soon made our way inside and, as we walked down the main hall, I saw that the mayor and his assistant had stopped, the assistant with a surprised look on her face. But, the mayor looked like he was running the best poker face that I had ever seen. He had to be responsible. With us returning, even though I had not met either of these two like I told Sawyer on our way here, he seemed to be tense. He must have figured out that we knew about his plot. Both Jacobo and Kitty had motives, Jacobo because he had just been voted out of office and was in a lame-duck period before his sister took over and Kitty because it was no secret to the people in town that she had Jacobo's ear and would use him to get things she wanted to happen in town possible through him. Both had the motive, but by the looks of it, Jacobo was the one who had given in to the temptation that was presented.

"Oh, thank goodness you are all alright!" The assistant greeted us. "And I see you found a friend to help you. That is all very good." She shook each of our hands as she said that before she continued. "Did you take out the summoner? Without them taken out, the Lich is only temporarily gone." She must have done some research with this Lich plaguing the town as it has. Well, once we got the mayor in cuffs, then Ix could return to the dark world.

A smile came on Sawyer's face and I had a feeling that he was just about to announce that Jacobo was the summoner. "I am so glad that you agree with us, Kitty." He then grabbed some magic restraining cuffs from a counter, where I was guessing a guard would normally be stationed before he continued with that same smile. "So, if you would be so kind, please turn around so I can handcuff you and stop your magic...Kitty."

…..Say what!?

"Me?"

"Kitty?"

"The assistant!" I was the last one to speak in shock. I was sure that it was the mayor and, yet, Sawyer seemed confident...and it was his confidence that had him listen to Ix and me about our story, so it was a good thing. But, I didn't see how he knew that it was Kitty and not Jacobo.

But, I noticed that Kitty did flinch slightly when Sawyer pointed her out. Plus, it was weird that the mayor had not said a word about the accusation. What the hell was his deal? For a mayor, he was awfully quiet about his assistant being called out as being the one who was guilty of attacking his sister. But, he just continued to stare ahead. "Where do you get off saying that? I'm the one who hired you all!"

Sawyer, instead of looking worried, just shook his head. "Honestly, it was your own words that gave you up. When Del and I first checked in with you this morning, do you remember what you said? Describing the Lich and his summoner? You said that she was going to be a formidable opponent and that she could summon worse things than a Lich from the dark world. But, how would you know that? The only woman that we saw out there can only summon shades and, no offense to shades, they aren't near the same power level as Lichs. Plus, if you had seen her, then you would have immediately pointed out Hope here as the woman helping the Lich. But, you greeted her just like you greeted us."

Now I understood! This woman had literally given herself up to Sawyer and she hadn't realized it. Sawyer was smart but it took this meeting to give him the evidence he needed to put the final nail in. Clever man. "What, but...that's just…" Kitty must not have been ready for this kind of action against her.

But, suddenly, I noticed that Del had a look of realization spread across her face before she spoke. "And you aren't just a summoning mage, are you?" Now it was Sawyer's turn to look out of the loop. "I have been wondering why the mayor hasn't been reacting to our accusations and that is because you have hypnotism magic...don't you? Your time as the mayor's secretary has given you time to slowly take away his free will and place it under your control. Minimal magic needed even with your lower power levels. Not the worst plan in the world but," Her fist then lit up in a gray cloud. "I think it is time for you to figure out if you want to surrender to Sawyer or...well, we can do this the fun way."

The woman's face dropped into fear at Del's look and she immediately raised her hands in surrender. Well, that was easy enough. Before Sawyer put the cuffs on Kitty, though, I sent a quick prayer of good luck to Ix before he would vanish. As soon as I did, Sawyer put on the magic canceling cuffs and, in an instant, I felt an influence spell drop. That included the dull look in mayor Jacobo's eyes.

I could see the anger in his eyes as he looked at Kitty but, that look was brief before he sighed. "I am glad that is over." As the rune knights, who had come in at the disturbance in magic, came and took Kitty away, the mayor looked to us and I saw gratitude in his eyes. "I would like to thank all three of you for this mission. Even though it was a fake mission, since Kitty gave it to you under the pretense that you were helping her, I would like to pay you the full amount. Which guild should I send the excellence report to?"

With my decision made, I answered him before Sawyer or Del could. "I believe the guild is called Jackal Fang. Send the report there for all three of us, please."

He nodded toward us. "Very well, and I will keep Jackal Fang in mind for problems that come up for us in the future. Again, my deepest thanks to all of you." He then walked away.

Feeling eyes on me, I turned and smiled knowingly when I saw Sawyer and Del staring at me. "All...all three of us?" Del started. "Does that mean what I think it does?"

I nodded at her. "Yes, I believe that it is time for me to join a guild, and Jackal Fang seems like the guild for me. How soon can we get back to the guild?"

Sawyer seemed to be doing some quick calculations. "We can be back by ten tonight if we can catch the flight from Oak Town to Old Fort." Old Fort? So they were in the mountains and not in a town. That was just another positive for this guild in my books.

The three of us then started walking before a thought came to me and I mentally hesitated. "Oh, but there will be just one condition for my joining."

Both looked back to me, though we didn't stop moving. "What's that?" Sawyer asked as we neared the tree line that would eventually lead to Oak Town.

I smirked at that. "Sawyer, I want to be on your team."

He smiled at that and cheered, while I noticed that Del looked downcast. Rosebud, the exceed, seemed to have seen this coming and was just relaxing on Del's shoulder. "Ah, but I wanted you on Team Everfall."

Sawyer gave her a playful shove at that. "You already have four members including you, not to mention both exceeds. I don't have anyone on my team yet...well, except Hope now."

"Team Everfall?" They both turned to me. "What is that about?"

Sawyer, thankfully, answered me. "In Jackal Fang, for now, there are five teams that you can join. Team Dark Angel, Team Everfall, Team Poison Song, Team Heavenly Terra, and my team...which doesn't have a name yet. We have everyone who joins pick a team. That doesn't stop us from going on missions with other teams, obviously, and we can still go on solo missions. But, the team system helps when we do guild training and it gives us all accountability even on solo missions."

"Well, then I guess there is nothing stopping me from joining Team Nightingale," I stated, with a possible name for the team.

And it looked like Sawyer was on the same page as me. "Then Team Nightingale is happy to have you, Hope."

"As is Jackal Fang," Del stated with a grin. "Trust me, the guild is going to get a lot more crazy with you here with us."

I shook my head but a smile stayed on my face. When they first got here, I hadn't even seen myself joining a guild. But, with my interactions with these two, I now found myself excited to meet this guild that wasn't made of mindless drones. Perfect for me. I wasn't a fan of being led around on a chain. I was as free as the shadows that clung to my own...and that included the shadows of Jackal Fang now.

* * *

 **Hope: So, there is something I have been meaning to ask.**

 **Tolax: What?**

 **Hope: Just where does everyone fit in this space?**

 **Tolax: *pauses* It is probably best not to question things that are outside of our control.**

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 **AN: And that is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed...well, meeting Hope. Her chapter was a lot of fun to type and I hope that you all had just as much of a good time reading about this adventure of the Jackal Fang guild. I actually don't have a lot to talk about here, though, so I guess it is time to announce the names of the next chapters.**

 **Chapter 10: Honor**

 **Chapter 11: Shifting Sands**

 **Chapter 12:... (find out next time!)**

 **And that is all for now. Don't forget to leave a review, either to review or to say hello. Until next time, TTYL! *wonders why she hasn't started putting sunscreen on for long drives***


	11. Honor

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

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 **Authoress: So, I see that you are getting ready for Halloween.**

 **Anu: *nods* It is our biggest celebration.**

 **Authoress: *sighs* Oh well. To bad the chapter isn't at Halloween.**

 **Del: *confused* Who is up right now anyway?**

 **Sorano: It's Constantius. It should be fun to read.**

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Chapter 10: Honor

 **June 4, 787**

 **Constantius' 1st P.O.V.**

Life wasn't fair. She had taken me in when I was five, having run away from home. She didn't even question why I was in her barn. She just ushered me inside to get ready for dinner which had been pork and apple stew with apple ice cream for dessert. Then, she had pushed me into the room that I had called mine for these many years. Days of training, she was the best teacher that I could have ever wanted, let alone got.

But, that was gone. Bella Don was dead.

Now, it wasn't the largest surprise. She was old, and we had both known that the day had been coming. But, even with all the prep work that we did, I wasn't ready to walk into her room, back on March 5th, and finding her dead. It had cracked me, seeing the woman that had been such an anchor in my life, void of that very thing. It had been difficult to call the rune knights since they were the ones who needed to be called when someone died. Their death investigation went quickly but, from that day that I found her on, I felt alone.

This house...this orchard...it felt devoid of life without her yelling at me to get up in the morning to help with chores. To focus during our training sessions, to come when it was time to eat and to stop using my magic when I should be sleeping. I still didn't know how she did it, but she always knew when I was using it...even if it wasn't completely obvious to me how she figured that out.

But, she was dead and I had finally settled all of her affairs. I had just to finish going through her room. I had even sold the orchard to our neighbor, Chress Prome, who Bella had made arrangements with to sell to before she died. But, he was allowing me to live here while I finished getting her affairs in order. She had been cremated and placed in a hole that I had planted a Honey Crisp tree in. While her favorite had been the Gala apple, and my own had been the Jonagold apple, Bella had said that, since the Honey Crisp had been an apple that was greatly used in many varying ways, that she wanted to help be the nutrition to a tree that could be used in so many different ways.

While I wanted more time to grieve, I knew that if Bella Don was still around, that she would have been yelling at me to do something productive with my life instead of mourning over something that couldn't be changed. So, I guess my three months was more than enough time. I had to get back out into the world. I had already called Chress to give him the keys to the house. I was just doing a final check of the house to make sure that I didn't forget anything. Of course, if I did, I was sure that Chress would get a hold of me somehow. But, this was my last look at the house before I went off to find my adventure, like the stories that Bella Don would tell me about. This was my time. But, first I had to finish this last run through the house. And, as it was, I was in the last room of the house; Bella Don's room. I had only been in here a couple of times to go through her stuff. But, now I had to make sure that I didn't forget anything personal of hers. I wasn't sure what I could find, but I had to make sure that I checked everywhere now. This would be the last time in some time before I was in this room again.

Of course, Bella had a way of being extremely organized that made this easy for me. Closet; check. Bed; check. Dresser; check. Now...I had to check her special closet...also known as her armory. She had been a requip mage and she had taught me her craft...especially her signature magic item requip ability. I had avoided claiming the weapons and items in her armory...hadn't even gone into it since she had died. She didn't have many weapons and items, but what she did have, she treasured. And in her will, she left them to me.

My hands shook as I gripped the handle of the door. But, I had to get through this. Chress was on his way here and I needed to be done with this so I could give him the key. So, I turned the handle and looked inside.

There were ten items in the room...all that Bella ever had on her for her requip ability. The helmet of Tarm, a helmet that allowed the wearer to become invisible to all senses. I gently took down the golden helm and placed it in my requip storage.

Then, there was Cryothane, a green-hued sword that could have its edges become covered in thorns and, with magic, could deliver poison. Bella said that this sword was given to her by her teacher, Lancelot. I carefully put the sword away.

After that, there was Grasp, a short sword that would vibrate if danger was approaching and, if the danger was stronger than the wielder, the blade of the sword would turn white. Bella said that Grasp had saved her several times when she was in trouble.

Fourthly, there was the Donner Mace. It was a weapon that I had purchased for Bella for her birthday three years ago. When magic was pushed into the weapon, it was able to fill the sky with storm clouds and strike lightning on those that it made contact with. I thought it was a nice gift and, even though I didn't remember her using it much, I was glad that she had kept it.

Then, there was the Scythe of the Sea. Bella told me she got it in a deal a long time ago and that it could produce water when it hit a rock. I remembered that Bella hadn't shown me it's magical ability, but I had seen her use it during one of our camping trips. It was incredible to see the water sprout from the rock as it had.

Plumormo, the name of her blue feather cloak, was a magical item that allowed the user to glide through the air from the moment they put on the cloak and put their magic into it. Bella used to tell me stories about how Plumormo saved her from many falls during her sword fights in her past.

Then, there was the Flintlock shield. It was a special magical item that could deflect any magic that originated from fire and the earth. Bella said there was a time where she was near a volcano that was erupting and she had been saved from death by that shield. I hoped to use it as well as she did.

My eyes then moved to Ankelt, the strange cross-shaped talisman that Bella had picked up. It was magically imbued to show the last few minutes of a beings life after they were dead. While Bella hadn't personally tested this one before, she did trust the person who gave her Ankelt and she said that he was the most trustworthy vendor that she had ever met.

Then, there was an item that Bella had made for her by a friend of hers who had been a blacksmith. She had named the double-headed axe Deathstalker since it could produce shadows when it was sliced through the air. It seemed to me like that ability was better suited for assassin weapons like daggers or a crossbow, but when I asked Bella about it, she simply laughed and said it was in memory of a friend of hers that she met a few times and was still in contact with.

Lastly, there was a spellbook called Nefer that, when asked almost any question would answer. But, Bella did warn me that the book could be difficult about its answers and she only ever used it when the question was simple and would, hopefully, have a simple answer. I remember that, once, she used Nefer to find out why our mail had been delayed. The book had given a strange answer that told us to ask the bride. Turned out that the mailman had proposed to a woman who was one of the mail carriers, and she had accidentally packed the bag in her belongings when the two of them had gone to Crocus to get married. She had apologized to us profusely but we were fine. But, that did show how unreliable the book was.

But, something seemed to be stuck in the book. So, opening it, I was surprised to see a large envelope that was tucked away and, once I took it out, I saw that my name was on it. Was this from Bella Don? Putting Nefer into my requip storage, I moved and sat on Bella Don's bed before turning it over and, requiping a letter opener that I kept, I opened it carefully. Once the seal was lifted, I returned the opener to my storage before I gently took out the contents.

The first item, to my surprise, was another sealed envelope. But, this one was not addressed to me, or anyone that I knew. Instead, this was addressed to someone called 'Anu'. I had never heard Bella Don talk about anyone by that name but, since only the first name was used on the envelope, then she must know the person. But, without any mailing specifications on the envelope, I had a feeling that I was going to have to deliver this for her.

So, I took out the other object in the envelope, a letter, and began to read it.

 _My Dear Constantius,_

 _If you are reading this, then I am either dead, or you are snooping in my armory again without asking (and I will find out quickly if you are). If it is the first option, though, you had better not be taking my death hard. I am an old woman, and my time was coming. I just hope that my death was as peaceful as it could be. Not that I deserve such a death, but it wouldn't be a bad thing all things considered._

 _I have a feeling that you have gone through everything else in the house. You never did take loss well and I have a feeling that you saved the armory for last. As my will stated, you are the owner of all the items in the armory. Please take them with you. I am sure that they will help you with all the adventures that you are bound to go on._

 _While I never told you this enough in person, I am proud of you and how far you have come. From the small boy that I found hiding in a corner of my barn to the handsome, responsible young man that I have seen you become, I know that you will change the world out there for the better. And, the first step for you, I am guessing, will be for you to join a guild. While I want you to go out and explore the world, there is a favor that I need for you to do for me._

 _Inside this envelope, you have found a second envelope with the name of a friend of mine, Anu. If you could, take this to him and make sure, personally, to give it to him. Anu has been a good friend to me and we both have helped each other out over the years. He needs to know that I have passed. Inform him of this for me. Chress will give you an idea of where to find the man. But, you do not have to do this. You are a grown man now and you can make your own choices. However, I can say that if you do deliver this, that a path will open before you that I am sure, with the training that I have given you, that you will see and take._

 _I know you feel that I have left you too soon, but there is nothing that I can do about that dear boy. I do love you, and I have always thought of you as my son. So, what you need to do is stop those tears from falling and take this life of yours by the horn and make it your own. Go on adventures and make friends. Explore a world that you have only caught a small glimpse of._

 _For Honor and Peace,_

 _Bella Don; Requip Master, Orchard Famer, and Caregiver_

Damn, she always was one step ahead...even in death. By the time I finished reading her letter to me, the page was littered with drops of tears that had fallen from my eyes. This was just like Bella Don. I stared at that page in front of me, my eyes wet but no more tears falling. I was truly done. Bella Don's affairs were taken care of and I wasn't sure what to do.

A weight in my hand reminded me that, yes, I did have something to do. Bella Don wanted this letter delivered to this Anu guy, and I was going to make sure that I did just that. This was her last mission to me...her last lesson, and I was not going to fail. I was going to deliver this to 'Anu' and then I would go from there. I would become a mage, probably join a guild, and make sure that I showed that Bella Don was the greatest requip mage and teacher in history. I would make sure of it!

I jumped as a knock suddenly sounded at the door. Wiping away the wetness in my eyes, I walked to the door and opened it to find Chress on the other side. "You okay there kid?" The thirty-year-old asked me with concern.

Nodding, I dug the two keys for the place out of my pocket and handed them to Chress. "Here are the keys to the house. The other keys for the barns are inside." I then looked back at the house. "Make sure you take good care of it."

Chress laughed and put one of the keys in his pocket before handing the other one to me. I felt confused. Why was he giving a key back to me? "Consider this a gift from me to you. Whenever you or any of your future friends need a place to stay around here, use the house. The wife and I are going to be living at my place and I'll only be down here for harvest time for apples."

I stared at the key in appreciation and put it in my pocket. "Thanks, Chress and good luck with everything." I was then about to walk away when I remembered the envelope in my pocket. "Oh...Chress, may I ask you something?"

His green eyes found me. "Sure Constantius. What is it?"

In return, I held out the envelope with Anu's name on it. "I found this envelope inside one that Bella Don left for me. In her note to me, she said you would know how to find this Anu character. Can you tell me how to find him?"

I would swear to my dying day that I saw a glint of mischievousness flash across his eyes. But, it was in an instant and, right after, he moved a hand through his dark blue hair. "Ah, so she wants you to track down the mutt." Mutt? Chress let out a laugh before I could ask him about it. "I don't know exactly where he is, but I have heard that he has contacts in Dawn City. Go to the Lethal Shield Tavern. Talk to the owner, Elgor, and ask him about Anu. Probably won't give you a straight answer, since he won't know you, but he should know how to get word to either Anu or one of his associates that someone is looking for him. You should be contacted after that quickly." He then held out a hand to me. "Good luck Constantius."

Taking his hand, I shook it. "Thank you Chress." I then turned. The trip to Dawn City would put me there at nightfall and so I had to hurry. If I was delayed, then I wouldn't be there until morning and I had a feeling that I would need my rest for when I interacted with this 'Anu' character.

 **Elgor's 1st P.O.V.**

"She has eight now? That seems like quite an accomplishment Anu." I congratulated my friend as, during his report on his guild's activities, he told me about how Sorano now had eight mythics since his last check-in. "She has so many now that I need a recap. Just what mythics are in Sorano's corner now?"

The golden-eyed guild master on the other end of the lacrima let out a laugh. "Well, you know about George the Angel of Victory and Cecilia the Angel of Music." Right, her first two. "Then, there was Bailey the Black Widow Spider back in August of last year. Then Fain the Elven Queen, Salazar the Scorpion Knight, and Io the Iron Giant all contracted with her on different days back in October of last year." Right, I remember that. They were new for the Halloween parade that year. "Then there was Victoria the Valkyrie back in February."

Yes, I was even there for that one. The guild had been in town getting some things for Valentine's day when some visitors from out of town started to mess with Edorin. Sorano hadn't taken too kindly to that and had jumped in to defend him quickly. That was when the golden light hit her and the Valkyrie came out when the light faded. "Yes, and I remember that contracting. But, you are saying that she has had another one since then?" I pressured him.

Laughter came from the mutt at that. "Yes. Back in May, after that check-in date, Sorano was contracted by Talia the Firebird."

"A firebird huh? What's next, some mythic that has to do with ice?" I teased the dog before I shook my head. "I am glad that she is making more contracts. She'll have her own little army soon at the rate that she is going."

Anu nodded at that. "Yes, and speaking about Sorano and her army, she is coming to town tomorrow to pick up an extra bottle of my special whiskey from you. You know, the stuff from Minstrel. I've been good and Melody gave me clearance to get another bottle."

"She better have Anu," I warned the dog. "I remember the last time you tried to sneak your whiskey behind Melody's back. I couldn't hear anything out of my right ear for days after that." And I was pretty sure that they were still ringing.

"You can ask Sorano when she gets in tomorrow. She wouldn't sneak me my whiskey. Melody approved, gift, or none at all." I was pretty sure that Anu pouted at that last bit. His guild was good at regulating Anu's whiskey intake. That incident from before, he had convinced his newest member at the time, Edorin, to get it for him.

I laughed at the transformation mage before nodding. "Alright, I'll pull a bottle and set it aside for her when she gets here." Looking at the clock next to me, I realized that it was time that I relieved Jason from his shift. The kid had some studying to do for his college studies and so he asked for a shorter shift today. Of course, I gave it to him. "Hate to let you go Anu, but I have to go and relieve Jason. He has some test coming up that he wants to do some more studying for."

My friend nodded. "Very well then. Tell him good luck from me."

"Will do Anu," I responded before I hung up the line. After I put it away, I made my way to the bar and, once I was out there, I noticed that the bar was not busy, which was just fine with me. We had our regulars and that meant that it was going to be a relaxing night. Definitely a good night to let Jason go and get some studying done. "Alright kid, get back to your place and study like there is no tomorrow."

Jason nodded and took off his apron. "Will do boss."

"Oh," I started as he made to move from behind the bar. "the dog sends a bit of good luck to you."

My assistant paused at my words. "Well, he is pretty lucky for who he is. Night Elgor." He then moved out the door.

And as soon as he left, I watched as a young man who was about seventeen walked in. He had purple hair with long bangs and sharp green eyes. Those eyes moved around the room before they landed on me. I didn't know who this was but it seemed that he was looking for me. "So, this is the Lethal Shield. You wouldn't happen to be Elgor would you?"

He knew my name. That could be dangerous. I was on edge but I was curious as to why he was looking for me. "Yes, I am. Who are you?"

The young man looked genuinely surprised when I asked him that. So, he straightened up and tilted his head towards me. "My apologies. My name is Constantius Dail and I have heard that you are the one to come to if someone is looking for a man called Anu." So, it was the dog that this boy was looking for. "Could you help me?"

Well, I wasn't going to just send the boy to Anu but, since Sorano was going to be coming into town tomorrow, I would pass the information to her and she would be able to judge the boy more and decide if he was safe enough to take to Anu or if he had to be summoned from the mountains to see him. "Not me personally, but I can contact some friends of his that can arrange a meeting between you and him. You wouldn't be able to tell me why you want to meet him would you?"

Constantius shook his head at that. "Sorry, but this is personal. Do you have a room that I could rent for the night?"

Well, it was worth a shot to see if he would tell me. Since he didn't, I guess I could at least let him pay for a room. "Sure do kid. Thirty jewels per night." He then handed over the money so I handed him his key. "Up the stairs, third door on your right. I'll be down here until two if you need anything, just come down and ask." The kid nodded and immediately made his way upstairs. I wasn't getting a bad feeling from the kid and that was a good thing toward him. I would tell Sorano about him when she got here in the morning. With her habits lately, then she would probably get here around ten in the morning. That would give me plenty of time to sleep once I closed up the bar. She would know what to do about this kid.

 **June 5, 587**

 **Sorano's 1st P.O.V.**

"I don't want to hear a word, Sal," I said out loud to my mythic as I walked into Dawn City, on my way to Elgor's.

I felt the eyeroll of my mythic in my mind before he mentally spoke to me. _"You can't blame me for this Sorano. This was your decision and you will appreciate it in the future."_

Rolling my own eyes, I continued. "But, this isn't the future yet and I hate early mornings. While I understand that noon is not waking up early, that does not mean that six in the morning is a regular one."

This time, Bailey jumped in. _"I would be completely with you sweetie, but you are the one that asked us to start waking you up early so you could do more in the day. Training is one of them."_

Yeah, and that was the plan for this morning before Anu snatched me last night. Thanks to his good behavior, Melody allowed Anu to get a bottle of one of his favorite whiskeys from Elgor. Since he knew I was getting up early anyway, he asked if I could run into town and get it. While a part of me didn't, I knew that the dog had been working hard on paperwork and that was not helped by a little...mishap that happened not long ago when Team Dark Angel went on a mission to Waas Forest. Not a pretty sight that one. We were a little too forceful with our attack on the dark guild and ended up destroying a good bit of the surrounding forest.

...Honestly, I was surprised that the guild was still allowed to go into the woods.

Since that was a large chunk of the recent paperwork, I decided to say yes to him. So, here I was. However, that didn't mean that I was happy for an early wake up for a trip to get the master's whiskey. "I almost wish that you all couldn't remember that well."

" _Oh, but you do love us though."_ Talia chimed in.

A sigh escaped me as I smiled. "Of course I do. All of you." Coming up to the Lethal Shield, I converted my speech to internal speech. _"Well, at least we can get back quickly. If we move fast enough, we can have time for some training still."_

" _I'm sure we will try our best. We have been progressing amazingly since you became open for contracting and I feel like we will only improve."_ George spoke to me as I walked inside.

Seeing Elgor look toward me, I waved a hand toward him. "Hey, Elgor. You have the whiskey that the master ordered?"

The barkeep nodded and reached a hand underneath the bar before pulling up a bottle of said whiskey before saying, "You got it. One bottle of beautiful Ichor of Minstrel, honey-flavored, unopened and ready for the dog." I walked up to the bar and put down the jewel for the whiskey that Anu gave me before taking the bottle in hand.

"Thanks, Elgor. This seems like it is going to be a fast trip." I commented before putting the bottle in a travel bag that I brought. When I looked back up, though, I saw that Elgor looked hesitant. Crap, did I speak too soon?

" _Wouldn't surprise me one bit,"_ Bailey commented mentally to me.

I mentally rolled my eyes at her before Elgor started talking. "I would appreciate it if you could put that on hold for a bit."

That usually meant that he had some information about something and, since he had just talked to Anu last night, that meant that something happened at the bar last night. So, I took a seat at a stool before motioning to him. "So, what happened?"

"After I got on shift last night, I had a young man, about seventeen I'd guess, with purple hair with long bangs, come in looking for the mutt." Someone was looking for Anu? "Wouldn't tell me why but I wasn't getting a bad vibe from the boy. So, since I knew you were coming in, I figured you could meet the boy. His name is Constantius Dail."

So, I wasn't getting back to the guild anytime soon. While I wanted to get back, I knew that not investigating this would be an insult to the guild. So, I pressed on. "And where can I find Constantius?"

Elgor motioned to the door. "Early riser that one. He was up at six wide awake and left a note on the register saying that he was going to be training in the park until lunchtime. So, I'm guessing that'll be the place to look for him first."

Nodding at that, I waved back to Elgor. "I'll have Anu call you tonight about this one way or another. Stay safe."

"You too Lioness," Elgor responded with a smirk.

I shook my head at that as I walked out the door. Starting back in February, Deminal had come and, using a piece of premonition magic that he practiced, he read each of the guild members' spirit beings and we all decided to use them as fun code names to have.

Anu was, of course, a Jackal. All of us saw that coming. Same with Erik being the Snake. Sawyer being the Hare was slightly surprising, since the bet around the base had been that he would be a roadrunner. But, Richard wasn't so surprising with being the Hawk, since he did have his Heaven's Eye magic. My own threw me, being the Lioness. Not what I was expecting, given my obsession with angels. But, I knew better than to argue with Deminal and his results. He was very attuned with every aspect of the magic he had. Macbeth being the Spectre wasn't a surprise, given his magic and sleeping habits.

Eden was a surprise in being the Wyrm since she was a dragon slayer. Melody wasn't a surprise being called the Siren, given her magic and her other half, but Del was again a surprise, being called the Huntress...again because she was a dragon slayer. Narissa wasn't a surprise being called the Giantess given her magic, and Tolax was right behind her being called the Demon. But, Edorin being called the Warrior threw a loop for us all. We figured his spirit being would have been something more connected to being a craftsman, not a warrior. The last two, James and Hope, were not surprises though, given that James was the Ice Wyvern and Hope was the Vampiress. Their magics and their pasts summed up those very well.

Deminal said that he would stop by the guild every six months to give an update to the spirit beings, and to have a fun visit. He said that we made him feel younger. Crazy old man. But, I knew Nabela could take care of him perfectly.

" _That looks like Constantius."_ Io jumped in.

Looking up, I tensed when I saw that, yes, there was the man that matched Elgor's description of Constantius. But, his situation didn't look good. He was standing with his back to Jenny Scotch, a girl who was about my age that worked with Equinox. She looked like she had a nasty bump on her head. The guy had a short sword with a dark gray blade. He looked calm and not worried. In front of him was a group made of two girls and a guy and they looked tense, but also not worried.

" _We should listen in and see what is going on before we jump in,"_ Cecilia suggested.

Nodding, I moved quietly and stayed out of the notice of the others. Once I was close enough to the group, I paused and drew on Fain's stealth abilities to stay under their radar as I listened.

"Come on, we were just talking to the girl." The guy spoke.

The first girl, a blonde, nodded at that, "Yeah, we just wanted to get some information about the town and she overreacted. We were just talking."

Bullshit. Jenny wasn't one to overreact. That was one of the reasons that she wanted to join Equinox when she had applied.

The guy I was assuming was Constantius shook his head at that. "Sorry, but from where I come from, people socially speak with their words, not with their fists." He then motioned to the three with his sword. "Also, three on one isn't proper either. But, I should be alright to take you all on."

The other girl, a lavender haired girl, laughed as her hand was suddenly surrounded by electricity. I noticed that, when she did, the shortsword that Constantius was holding seemed to go a few shades lighter. "We doubt that. All of us have magic and, even if you could take on one of us, we could move you aside easily." The other two of that group then seemed to activate their magics, ice surrounding the other girl's hand and stones surrounding the guy's hands. The shortsword in Constantius' hand glowed a silver-white color. That caused the first flinch to come from Constantius that I saw.

"Well," He sighed before holding out his empty hand. In a flash, there was a second weapon...a green-hued sword, in his right hand. Once that was in his hand, the shortsword turned to a gray hue. That change in hue seemed to relax him. "then I guess I should use two weapons."

While the three looked nervous, the boy still seemed to have a voice that wasn't helping him. "So what? Two weapons. That will only keep two of us busy. In case you can't count, there are three of us."

" _Are you thinking what I am thinking?"_ Victoria asked me as the guy said that.

Nodding, I removed the cloaking abilities that I was pulling from Fain and pulled out Victoria's sword before walking into view. "Well, then I think that the two of us will be more than enough for you." I then let a pulse of my magic energy fluctuate so they could sense some of my magic power. Jenny looked relieved, Constantius looked calm, but the other three looked even tenser as I stopped next to the guy who was looking for Anu. "You punks getting out of town now? Dawn City isn't welcoming to people who want to stir up a ruckus and attack civilians. You're just lucky that Jackal Fang came up on you and not one of the other groups here in town. We are the calmest when it comes to attacks against the people of Dawn City."

It didn't take long for the three to run off.

I turned to Jenny, not caring about Constantius at the moment. "You alright Jen?"

She nodded and took the offered hand before she stood up. "Yeah. Those three came up and wanted some information on Equinox. They must have been watching for a while because, normally, I run through here for my morning jog and there aren't any people in the park normally at this point in the day. You know, since a lot of people here are either already at work, school, or just getting up. But, this guy here jumped in to help when they started getting rough."

A sigh of relief escaped me. "Good. You know what to do when you get to Equinox?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Report to Paralex that people are trying to get info on us so he can pass that along to Nero and your guild master. We'll make sure that they don't cause any more problems."

"And if Paralex has any questions about this, have him call the dog and he'll know how to get me on the comm with your boss. You might want to say that I recommend keeping Crypt Veil out of it. They get a little...over-enthusiastic about these kinds of situations."

Jenny nodded at that. "You got it." She then turned to Constantius, who was looking slightly overwhelmed. "And thank you."

To my surprise, he gave a slight bow to her. "You are most welcome." That startled Jen for a second before she nodded and ran off in the direction of Equinox headquarters.

Since that situation was behind us, I turned to the man who seemed to be a requip mage. "Okay, so I heard through Elgor that you're name is Constantius and you are looking for Anu. Can you tell me what you want with him?"

The mage looked hesitant before he answered me. "Yes, that is my name. I can't give you specifics, but I am here to give something to Anu from a friend of his...who I won't name until I see him. I would offer to let you hold my weapons while I see him, but I am afraid that I have quite a lot I have access to." He then seemed to do a mental count in his head. "About fifty weapons and thirty magical items that are not weapon-related."

Damn.

Well, I was in a guild that, currently actually had all the members there...unless someone took a mission before the two of us got there. But, since most of the guild had recently returned from various missions, I doubted that. "Well, given what just happened, I'll trust you for now and take you to Anu. But, just as fair warning, if you try anything against him...well, you won't get very far."

He seemed to study before nodding. "That seems fair. How long will our journey take us?"

"About an hour to an hour and a half. It just depends on how the trek goes today." I answered him honestly before starting to walk in the direction of the guild. After a few steps, I paused and turned when I realized that he wasn't coming with me. "You coming?"

The guy looked like I pulled him out of a daze before he nodded and followed next to me. This guy was weird but, like Elgor said he experienced, I wasn't getting a bad vibe off of him. But, the dog would have this guy figured out quickly enough...if he was sober, and if not then Melody and Tolax were just as quick at their assessments of people.

 **Anu's 1st P.O.V.**

"Thank you very much for this Melody." I thanked my sound mage as I took a sip of whiskey.

For getting within one month of when I got the paperwork on my desk, then she allowed me to take the day off from paperwork. Of course, she had to check the office to make sure that I did. That little trick that I pulled the night before I went to get Edorin for the guild was discovered by Melody while Eden and I had been gone...and it was easy to say that she was not a happy mage when we had returned. So, from now on, she checked my office for my paperwork goals.

Melody turned from drying a highball glass before smiling. "You earned this Anu. Plus, this bottle cracked this morning during cleanup and I need it gone. You and Tolax are the only ones that like the whiskey...and you're the only one that will drink it before five. So, this is helping me more than anything."

Well, I should have seen that coming. But, I was happy that I was getting to drink this early. So, there was going to be no complaining from me. However, I was curious about something. "Melody, what are your plans for the next few days?" I was hoping that since the other members would start to take missions here soon, as the cycle normally went, that she could help me get the rest of my paperwork done. Plus...I was expecting this month's paperwork from the Council tomorrow and, from recent events, I knew that it was going to be a big stack of papers.

She raised an eyebrow at that. "I plan on doing some inventory, then some deep cleaning of the main floor, unused rooms, lounge, and offices, and then I plan on going out into the valley for some meditation training. I've heard that it can help when magic is...unstable." She then gave me a knowing look. "So that means that there will be no time for me to help you get any of that paperwork cut down."

A pout came on my face at that before I laid my head on the counter. "Phooey."

Laughter coming from my right had me turning to see Tolax walking up with Hope, who had laughed. "Come on Anu," Tolax started. "I'm sure that even Hope here has caught on to your ploys to get help with homework, and she's the newest member."

Hope nodded at that. "Quite. The one time back in February was enough for me. If it wasn't for Sorano coming in and pulling me out, I would have been on paperwork duty all day." She then looked around. "Speaking of Sorano, where is she?"

I sat up at that. "She agreed to run to Dawn City to pick up a bottle of whiskey that Melody let me order from Elgor. I am guessing that she will be back soon though. Her mythics have her on a training schedule and, if they kept their visit to the city short, then they should have time to do some of it."

"Well, you can ask her yourself." Melody started while motioning to the door. "I can hear her outside...and she isn't alone."

That piqued my curiosity and every member of the guild, since we were all down here, turned to the doors as they opened. The first one inside was Sorano and I saw that she had the bottle of whiskey in her hand that I had been waiting for. It was almost hypnotizing looking at it.

But, the boy stepping in behind her drew my attention to him and I did a quick study of his appearance and stature. Purple hair, sharp green eyes, six-foot-tall, tanned skin, and he stood with such a rigid stance that was familiar to me...yet I couldn't place it. Who was this? "Hey everyone." Sorano greeted the guild and greetings were sent back to her before she turned and motioned to the boy. "Master Anu, this boy here says he is looking for you to give something to you. His name is Constantius."

Something for me? I was curious and so I stood and walked up to the two of them since they had moved to the center of the guild and the doors were closed. "Well, I'm Anu Biskaln. What can I do for you?"

The boy nodded and dug into his bag. "I was given instructions to give this to you by the late Bella Don." He then held out an envelope with my name on it.

But, as I took the envelope, I felt saddened. I had not realized that Bella had died. She was a close friend and she helped me during a few rough patches in my past. Must have kept her ceremony private, or I had a feeling that I would have heard about it by now. Many people knew of Bella Don, and for no word to even get to Paralex was impressive. "When did she pass...Bella Don, that is?" I asked Constantius as I began to open the envelope.

He looked upset by the question matter before he answered me. "This day back in March. Died in her sleep." He must have been very close to Bella Don. I could hear the pain in his voice.

Once the envelope was opened, I took out what was inside. One was a dagger fragment that caused me to smile. One of the times Bella Don had helped me, she had pulled that sucker out. Wouldn't give it back either. The other thing was, of course, a letter.

 _Dear Anu (you stupid dog),_

 _If you have been given this by Constantius, then I have left this plane of existence. I know how sappy you can get so no tears in front of the boy. He has probably done enough of that. I won't make this long but I do hope that you are doing well, as well as that guild of yours. Jackal Fang. Really couldn't come up with a name that didn't involve something about you? Never knew you to be vain but times do change._

 _Speaking of your guild though, I have a favor to ask of you. Constantius is a great mage, a requip mage that I have personally trained since he discovered his magic. If you could, and if you wish, offer him a place at your guild. From the reports that I keep up with, your guild is the perfect place for the boy and I am sure that he will enjoy it. It's his call, of course, and so if he says no I won't hold it against anyone._

 _For Honor and Peace,_

 _Bella Don; Requip Master, Orchard Famer, and Caregiver_

 _P.S. I told you on that day years ago that you would only get this shard of your favorite dagger back once I was dead and gone. Well, told you that I was a woman who kept her promises._

Even though I was sad that Bella was gone, I couldn't help but smile. That old crone always seemed to have a way of orchestrating things even when it looked like she couldn't possibly predict them. I was sure that she had sent Constantius here on a wild run to get here. Probably only had my name and a few other details to go on. Plus, I have to say that she did keep her word. I liked the dagger that was missing the piece that she had dug out of me that day but as the letter said she wouldn't give it up until she was dead. I would have to see someone in getting that one repaired.

But, back to the important part of this letter. "I'm assuming that you haven't read this?" I asked Constantius as I held up Bella Don's letter to me.

He shook his head. "No, sir. I have followed Bella Don's instructions to the letter. But…" He then hesitated and I saw worry. "She said in my letter that, by this time, I would know what to do. But, I just feel like there are too many roads in front of me."

I smirked at that. Seriously. Bella Don was playing puppet master even from her ashes. So, I handed the boy my letter. "Read that. You'll know which part contains to you and yes, I am offering that option to you."

The boy gave me a funny look at that but took the letter from my hands and read it. Once I was sure he got to the part that involved him, his hands dropped to his sides and his eyes were wide. "You...you are offering me this?"

While the rest of the guild, except for Erik, looked confused, I nodded. "Yes. If you wish to, I am offering you a place here in Jackal Fang." I then moved to the bar and reached behind it before I grabbed the stamp we kept there. Once I had it, I walked back up to him. "So, what do you say?"

"What do I say?" He repeated that back to me before he paused for a second. Then, he lifted his shirt to expose the right side of his stomach and he pointed to it. "There in purple please, Master Anu."

"Finally, some respect," I said with a smile as I gave him the mark.

Of course, Hope had to come over and ruin it. "Don't give the mutt that much appreciation. We all call him master...at times, but mutt, dog, and Anu work as well." She then held out her hand. "I am Hope Ravensmith and my teammate over there, the skinny one with the spiked blonde hair," She motioned to Sawyer with the other hand, "is Sawyer and I would like to offer you a place on our team; Team Nightingale."

Well, she worked quick. I had seen the other teams ready to talk with him before she stepped up. He looked at her hand before nodding and taking it. "Sure. I like birds. They keep the bugs away from apples all right. Plus, they help move seeds so new orchards can grow. So sure."

Hope looked confused by that and I sighed. It seemed like Bella Don had also taught Constantius her love for apples...like an obsession for them. The rest of the guild would learn that in time. For now, though, it was time to celebrate, both Bella Don's life and the addition of a new guild member. That meant that a bottle of Ichor of Minstrel was waiting to meet my glass, and who was I to disappoint?

* * *

 **Melody:*sighs* Master, if I didn't know any better, I would say you were an alcoholic.**

 **Anu: *smirks* But I'm not, so that means more whiskey for me!**

 **Constantius: *confused* Why does Anu drink so often?**

 **Hope: *smirks* It's because he has to get it when he can. Melody has him on a strict time table to drink usually.**

 **Constantius: Oh.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I hope you all enjoyed reading about Constantius and his journey to join the guild! I have a lot of fun with all of my OCs and he is no exception. Especially with his apple fet...love. I was going to say love...Anyways, Constantius is now a part of the Jackal Fang guild and we are slowly, but surely, getting close to wrapping this first part up. But, until then, you get to enjoy these characters even more!**

 **So, here are the next chapters for you all!**

 **Chapter 11: Shifting Sands**

 **Chapter 12: The Night Hunter**

 **Chapter 13:...(Find out next time!)**

 **And that's all for now. Please leave a review, or say hi if you wish, and I will greatly appreciate it! Until next time though, TTYL! *running to get some whiskey before Anu can***


	12. Shifting Sands

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Anu: So, It seems like it has been quite some time since you have updated us, Authoress.**

 **Authoress: *sheepishly* Work has been getting me held back on all of my updating and typing. *sighs* It has been upsetting, to say the least.**

 **Anu: *frowns* I feel like we should get something in return for this long wait. *evil plotting* Like maybe some more of my whiskey?**

 **Melody: *head slaps Anu* That only benefits you and not the entire guild dog!**

* * *

Chapter 11: Shifting Sands

 **June 30, 787**

 **Eden's 1st P.O.V.**

I found myself bouncing from side to side as Narissa and I walked through the desert. We had just finished a mission in Crocus. Wasn't anything exciting, just delivering a few pieces of jewelry from a craftsman in Dawn City to a store in Crocus. It was a 100,000 jewel reward, so 25,000 jewel each after the guild expense was taken. But, we hadn't taken this mission for the jewel. Besides Melody, we had been the only two girls at the guild and decided to take a mission together. Honestly, this was the first time that I was on a girl-only mission with someone outside of Del and I was excited to see how this would go.

"Eden...can you stop bouncing? I'm starting to get sick." I flinched at Pitch's tired voice coming from on my head. It was dusk right now and he had gotten up early this morning. He was not a very happy exceed when I woke him up and so I had told him that he could sleep on my head on the way home. We were about four hours out from Crocus and Pitch was asleep for three of those.

Sighing, I pet his head. "Sorry about that Pitch. This has been a really fun adventure and I can't wait to get to the guild and tell them about it. Del is going to be so jealous that we got to go to that gelato place!" What? It wasn't like the mission took the entire time of our trip. We had a little free time the other day and so the three of us had gone to the gelato place. Three words. Holy sweet calcite that was good gelato.

Anyways, the three of us continued to walk through the desert as darkness finally set in. It was a little chilly, but the good news here was that, while sand could be irritable in large quantities, I could eat it for energy just like a lot of loose particles that could be traced to stones. I wasn't an idiot, and I knew that Narissa wasn't either. Some monsters lived in the desert that were terrifying in their way. However, I knew that we would be alright just as long as we stayed in a group and didn't make too much noise.

I did my studying when it came to different monsters that could be fought on missions and I knew that most of the ones here in the desert had poor vision. However, that weakness was more than made up for by their abilities to sense sound. There were some of the ablest creatures which tracked by sound who lived in the desert. And many of those could be extremely dangerous. But, it seemed that Narissa understood that sound was something that we couldn't afford much of right now.

"Hey Eden," I turned to Narissa as she started the whisper. "do you have the water that we packed?"

Nodding, I reached into my bag. I was not idiotic enough to plan a trip into the desert without water. So, I paused and set the bag on the ground before opening it. "Yeah, I have it," I whispered back to her before I reached my hand inside. As soon as my hand reached the bottle though, a groan of disappointment slipped my throat. "Oh shit."

Narissa didn't like my statement. "What is it, Eden? What happened?" My guildmate whispered with worry.

In response, I pulled out the water bottle from the bag that had a gaping hole in the bottom. "That blade that I got for Del, the bone-metal one, was sharper than we thought. The other four bottles look just like this." The bag was made with quick-drying fabric and add that to the desert heat, then I had never sensed the water.

"Shit." She responded to me. Yeah, she realized that this was not a good situation. "We have more time to travel through this place still, and the closest oasis on the map is another three hours out." She then fell to her knees. "Why do we have all the bad luck?"

"Blame our mutt of a master," I responded to her with a sigh. "Easiest thing to do right now. He was the one who wanted us to take a mission to get the guildhall cleared out."

Narissa nodded. "Yeah, and even though he did that because this is Melody's bi-monthly intense cleaning time, she's too scary to blame. So, I'd go with the mutt too."

"Eden...Narissa…"

"We are going to die if we don't get out of here soon," I complained with a whine as I sank to my knees next to her.

"Girls…"

Narissa sighed. "And you can't find water in the desert can you?"

Unfortunately, I shook my head. "No. The sand is an overwhelming smell. Finding anything below it or in a five-mile radius would be impossible." I then motioned to her. "Do you think you could cut travel time down if you carry me and Pitch in your giant form?"

"Not unless you want to stop to battle all the monsters around here. My giant footsteps would have them on us faster than you could blink." Narissa dashed my hope.

"Hey!"

We both flinched when Pitch uncharacteristically yelled that. "What is it Pitch?" I asked my exceed.

He sighed and motioned toward the north. "I just flew up and saw an oasis about a mile ahead. Think we can head over there?"

A squeal of excitement escaped my throat before I grabbed Pitch. "Oh Pitch, you are the most incredible exceed that I have ever met!" I then let him go before starting to move toward the oasis. "Come on Narissa let's,"

Vibrations beneath my feet caused me to pause. "Eden please tell me that was your stomach?" Narissa asked me in a tense voice as she stood up.

Drawing on my magic, I shook my head. "No."

Screams came from both Narissa and me as the ground beneath our feet exploded. My feet were taken out from under me and I felt myself flying through the air. "Eden!" I faintly hear Narissa yell as my head struck something hard and I slammed into the ground.

Everything was a blur as I looked around me. I could see the tall outline of Narissa in her giant form taking on something that was about the same size as she was. What it was, exactly, I wasn't sure. But, while I wanted to get up and help my guildmate, I couldn't move my body. Everything was slipping into the darkness around me. The last thing that caught my vision as the darkness took over was a wall of sand heading toward Narissa.

 **July 1, 787**

 **Narissa's 1st P.O.V.**

Was it breakfast already? I could smell bacon and sausage. Melody made a good breakfast. She also had a pretty voice when she sang. It always made the mornings go by quickly. That was especially when Anu wanted to have a guild meeting early in the morning. Fucking early meetings. But, those didn't happen too often and when they did, Melody made amazing food for breakfast. It was to make up for the mutt waking us up this early. This had to be a meeting. Did I fall asleep on the counter? Why didn't someone wake me up earlier?

Slowly opening my eyes, the blurry vision that greeted me at least told me that I was not in the guild. This cave had much smaller dimensions than the guild. As I continued to look, memories from the last time I was conscious started to come back to me. Eden, Pitch, and me walking through the desert, the water being drained from the water bottles, and then the sand had exploded from under us. Eden had been thrown away from me and she had hit her head on something. I had been struggling with the sandworm that had come out of the ground and then the sand hit me and, "Eden!"

"Can you keep your voice down a little?" I flinched and turned to see a guy with white hair and orange eyes staring at me. He was probably about twenty-one from what I could tell. His clothes looked older, and they were worn, but it was easy to tell that they were very fine clothes at one point. "Not that I mind the new noise," this guy continued, "but your friend over there took a nasty lump to her head and would probably enjoy some rest."

At his words, I turned in the direction that he pointed. A sigh of relief came from me when I saw Eden sleeping on a cot in an outcropping of the cave, Pitch asleep on her chest. "Thank the gods." I sighed in relief. I had been worried about her. Seeing her going unconscious there in the desert had scared me more than I thought it would. A dragon slayer was the image of intense power to mages and to see one, and especially a guildmate, going unconscious, shook me.

"I'm assuming that you two are out here for a job, giving your matching guild marks and the lack of water in your bag at the edge of the desert by Crocus." The boy spoke to me again as he continued to cook whatever it was that he was cooking over that fire.

Shaking my head, I moved over and sat across from the boy as he cooked. "Not quite. We just finished a job. We were leaving Crocus when we stopped for a drink. It was then we realized that a blade that Eden bought for another of our guildmates had punctured holes in all the bottles. Pitch there had just found us a location to get some water when the sandworm came out of the ground."

"And that's when I found the two of you." The guy added in before taking the food off of the fire. "I have to admit, I'm glad you aren't the normal idiots that I get. Just unlucky people."

"Story of my life," I muttered before shaking my head. "Sorry, here you are helping us and I haven't properly introduced myself." I then held my hand out to him. "My name's Narissa Odir, member of team Poison Song, which is a part of the magic guild Jackal Fang." I figured he earned the full response since he did save us. Well, at least I think he saved us. I wasn't sure how that wall of sand appeared, but he was housing us and feeding us. That second part would be more impressive when Eden woke up. Hopefully, this guy could storm the appetite of a dragon slayer.

"Is that bacon?"

And there was Eden. The guy and I turned and watched as the earth dragon slayer and, along with her, Pitch woke up. "How are you feeling?" The guy asked Eden as she slowly moved to the makeshift table.

She glanced at him for a few seconds before she nodded once. "I'm fine. Just waking up still." Eden then sighed. "The name's Eden Flint, member of team Everfall, which is a part of the Jackal Fang guild. This is Pitch, and he's my exceed." She then glanced at the guy. "Who are you?" Well, I was getting to asking him that but it seemed half-awake Eden beat me to the punch.

The guy paused. "You know, it has been a while since I was asked that." He then smiled. "I am Saba A...Just Saba." That was weird. But, since he did save us, his privacy was his own.

"Then thank you, Saba," I thanked him. I then turned and looked around. "How long have you been here?"

"Years," Saba answered me. "I honestly lost track. It's nice out here, quiet too. Plus, the desert doesn't lie to you. If it is hot, then the ground beneath you will burn. If it is cold, shivers go down your spine. If something wants to eat you it doesn't dance around the issue, it will kill you."

Well, I couldn't argue that. Before Jackal Fang, I enjoyed the time to myself and didn't live with others. Sure, I would interact with people at times, but I preferred my nights alone back then when I wasn't with another person. It was like Saba seemed to be now. "I see. That used to be my life." I then looked at Eden. "But, their guild drew me in quickly."

"What were you like before all this?" Eden asked as tactless as ever. Of course, she was suffering from a nasty bump on the head. Somewhat understandable. But, since I knew Eden pretty well, I knew that she would have asked it anyways...just maybe not as bluntly. That was more Del's style than Eden's.

Saba looked cornered by the question before he shook his head. "It's a long story." He then looked at both of us. "How are you feeling? Were there any injuries that I missed?"

Deflection. Great, that was not fun. But, he was helping us recover so I couldn't press it. "No, we are great. Thank you very much for helping us." Saba seemed to relax when I said that.

"Would you like some water?" Saba asked as he stood up.

Pitch, thankfully, nodded. "Yes please."

The guy smiled and nodded. "Then I'll be right back." He then stood up and moved to the back of the cave. This guy was weird but I couldn't talk.

 **Saba's 1st P.O.V.**

I didn't like this. It had been over a year since I had let the last person into my cave here, and this felt very intrusive. Plus, the girl with the brown hair was very blunt with asking questions about me. From the look I could see in the blonde's eyes, she wanted to ask the same question but she was a little more restrained than her guildmate. A little. Something told me that, if these girls and the flying cat stayed here longer than needed, then both of them would keep asking questions.

But, I knew that Rolland would be happy that I was helping them, regardless of how they made me feel. All those years ago, if Rolland hadn't found me and brought me to this cave, then I wouldn't be alive. He had been an old desert hermit and, honestly, I was very unprepared for what the desert could bring. To be fair, though, I hadn't even been wanting to be out in the desert at the time. But, my family was moving from Seven to Fiore, to a manor near the city of Magnolia when the train we had been traveling on was attacked.

My family was...important in Seven but with political unrest, the young king had suggested that we move to Fiore. Supporting him was not easy to do at the time but my family was honorable and, since we vowed to support him, then we had to move. But, one of the enemies of my family, though I wasn't sure who, found out about our move and hired dark mages to attack the train. We had been traveling through the desert when the mages started their attack. My mother, aunt, and girl cousin were cut down quickly. They had been near the front of the train. My father and uncle had fought off the mages when they got to the back of the train, where I had been with both of them, and I had been terrified. That was especially when one of the mages caused the train to go off of the tracks. At that time, my uncle had thrown me off the train through a door that had opened and I had hit the sand hard. I had gone unconscious as the heat of an explosion came over me.

Flashback:

 _There was so much pain wracking my body as I opened my eyes. Above me was a rocky wall. What happened? We had been on the train, I had been with my father and my uncle, and then there was the attack...I was thrown out...the explosion!_

 _I sat up with a gasp, looking around. But, I regretted the fast action as pain shot through me. "Calm down boy, you need your rest." I shot my eyes to my left and felt tense when I saw an old man, mostly bald and slightly bent over. "You took a nasty spill out there. You were lucky."_

" _Lucky?" I asked the old man incredulously. "My family is dead! Killed by those mages or blown up! How can you say that I am lucky?"_

 _To my surprise, the old man simply raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, I believe that I simply opened my mouth, and used my ability to speak. You can do the same." My jaw was dropped, staring at this old man in surprise. How could he joke at me when I had just lost my family? "And you are lucky. You are alive to carry on where your family can no longer do so. You have lived. Now, you have a choice."_

 _I let his words sink in. I was alive. One day, I could go after those mages and the people who hired them. I could give my family the justice they deserved. It was only after these thoughts went through my mind when I caught on to what he finished his sentence with. "What choice?" This old man was strange, but he had helped me._

 _In return, the old man seemed to lock his gaze on me. "You can either wither away in grief, push away anyone who wishes to help you, and you can wallow in pity. Or you can let me train you, teach you what I know, and one day you can return to the world and help others from ending up where you are now. Which will you choose?"_

 _While I didn't see where I could go, I knew that I didn't just want to sit around and do nothing. So, I looked up at the old man. "I want to learn."_

 _Finally, the old man seemed to relax and sat down next to my bed. "I hoped you would say that." He then held out his hand. "I'm called Rolland."_

 _Looking at his hand, I only hesitated slightly before taking it in my own. "And my name is Saba Auris."_

End of Flashback.

It had taken a couple of years, but by that time I had fully embraced my new life in the desert. Rolland had taught me his sand magic, which was very useful living here in the desert as I did. Rolland had died when I was fourteen, but I was ready for it and, after burial, I had taken over Rolalnd's cave and made sure to help how I could.

And that brought me to this situation. I had bottles of water in my hands and I hoped to entice the girls out of my cave. They made me uncomfortable and I didn't like it. Not at all. I hadn't had the drive to leave before, but just hearing that they were a part of a magic guild caused a fire to stir inside of me. I wanted to explore and see what this guild, and other places, were like outside of my cave.

But, my cave was my sanctuary. It was where I had been able to recover from that horrific day when I had lost my family...well, my family before Rolland. I wasn't sure I could ever leave this place. It was my home. As I moved back to the main room, I felt peace as I remembered the days I spent with my original family and with Rolland. They all made me into who I was today and,

My thoughts paused as I entered the main part of the cave again. The two girls and the flying cat were gathered around my memory altar. How dare they! That was a sacred place for me, for it held the few items that I had to remember my blood family and Rolland. A picture of my family, a locket that I had from my childhood pen-pal, and a dagger from Rolland. They were touching it...that was mine! "Get out!"

The two girls flinched and looked back at me in surprise. I can't believe that they would dare! "We are sorry Saba we,"

I didn't care! Shoving the water into their hands and handing them their bags, I moved them to the exit of my cave. "I don't care! Get out of here and stay away!" Once I shoved them a way out of the entrance of the cave, I huffed and quickly returned inside to the altar. Quickly, I checked on the items on the altar. Everything, thankfully, was still in place. I couldn't begin to describe the relief. If I lost any of these items, I would cry. In the past, before the crash, I might have been afraid to do so because it could be seen as a weakness. But now, I knew that it was strong to cry, to show that you could show weakness when needed.

As I stared at the picture of my family some more, I thought about those girls again. While I was angry that they had invaded my private spot in the cave, I realized out of the anger that I couldn't blame them. I had been so nervous around them since I didn't have much contact with other people, that I hadn't told them not to mess with any of this stuff. But, I still had blown up at them and kicked them out. That wasn't a good idea, especially for the brown-haired one. That bump to her head could cause problems when wandering out in the desert.

This was a problem. I was too detached from society. Rolland had warned me that it could happen if I stayed apart from society completely. He even made purposeful trips to Crocus when he was alive to keep his grasp on society. I hadn't. I needed to leave the desert. So much time had passed since I was last in society. But, how would I start? It wasn't like I had many contacts like Rolland seemed to have before, and I wasn't even sure how I was going to start.

Then, my mind flashed back to the girls and the talk of their guild. A magic guild seemed like it would be a nice step to returning to society. Plus, those girls seemed nice in all reality, so their guild might be the best one to house me.

Quickly standing and grabbing all of my items, plus some travel necessities, I ran out of the entrance of the cave. If I hurried, then I could catch up to the girls and ask them to join their guild. It was a risk but it was a risk that I was willing to take.

 **Eden's 1st P.O.V.**

"I can't believe that jerk!" I fumed as I continued to walk across the desert with Narissa and Pitch. "We were just looking at a picture of what looked like him when he was little and he freaks out and throws us out here! I mean seriously, we weren't even touching the thing!"

While I expected Narissa to agree with me, I was surprised when she shook her head instead. "Eden, he lives in a cave in the desert, and a decent distance from other people all things considered. Saba was nervous as it was having the three of us in there in his house and, when he returns with water for us, we are near some of his things." She then paused. "Plus, he was living alone. That stuff we were looking at might be all he has from his past. We shouldn't have been so close to that stuff."

Even though I wanted to argue with her, I knew that I really couldn't. She was right. Saba had been nervous, though I hadn't realized how much so until he kicked us out of the cave. My head was still hurting, but I knew that I would be alright until we got to where we were going. Not just that, but now I was feeling bad. Saba was probably trying to help us, but we had invaded his privacy. If someone messed with my stuff from Geb and my time being raised by him, then I would tear off their heads.

Letting out a sigh, I stopped, "You're right." I then motioned back the way we came. "Can we go back and try to apologize? This will bug me until we at least try."

Narissa, smiling, nodded. "That sounds like a good idea Wyrm. We can make it back to Saba's cave by the late afternoon if we move at the pace that we have been."

That sounded good. So, we both turned and got about two steps when I felt it. The vibrations in the ground that shifted a lot beneath us. "Giantess, please tell me that was your stomach?"

While Narissa sent me a glare for the jab at her appetite, she shook her head. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

Oh shit.

A yell came out of me as I was able to jump to the side just as the ground below us exploded. This seemed familiar. When I hit the ground, I had to gag down the contents of my stomach as my head started to swim. Shit! My head must still be rattled from before. I had to focus to help Narissa. I was _not_ going to be helpless during this again. After a few minutes, my vision cleared and I jumped up to attack the worm that was attacking Narissa.

"Damnit what is with our luck and these stupid worms?" I growled as I launched an attack at it's exposed half. These worms were getting on my last nerve.

I could hear a groan of strain coming from Narissa and I saw that she was struggling to keep the worm from biting off her head. When she looked at the left side of the worm's head, the side I couldn't see, she let out a surprised gasp. "Damn mother fucking shit this is the same worm from last night!"

"Are you serious?" I screamed up at her while I jumped on its back to try and take it out from behind. When I got about half-way up the back of the worm, I let out a yelp as the worm suddenly launched forward and I started to fall off of it's back. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Narissa had fallen to the side of the worm and she wasn't moving. "Narissa!" I yelled out to her.

But, as I did, my side hit the surface of the sand and I couldn't hold back my stomach this time. That wasn't all, however. When I landed, I felt my shoulder shift and I yelled in pain. While I knew it wasn't broken, I was pretty sure that I had dislocated my shoulder. If I wasn't currently gagging and losing my stomach contents, then I would have yelled in pain. This all happened in a few seconds.

After my stomach finally stopped, though my shoulder and head still hurt, I looked up and felt my eyes widen as the worm started to come at me. Shit! With my shoulder still dislocated, I couldn't move fast enough to dodge or attack the fucking thing. I was not going to die by a sandworm! I wasn't going to! As the worm drew closer, I prepared a roar attack. While it wouldn't be my most stable attack it might just cause the worm to divert its path and save me from being eaten whole.

But, before I could even prepare to launch the attack, a pillar of sand came from behind me and struck the worm, throwing it back. I jerked my head to look behind me and I felt my eyes widen when I saw Saba standing there, a pack on his back and his hand outstretched. "Are you okay?" He asked me as he stood next to me.

I gave him a so-so motion with my left hand before saying, "Not bad. Right shoulder's dislocated and everything seems to be swimming a little, but I can move if I need to. Can you see Narissa? Is she alright?" From my vantage point on the ground, I couldn't see squat.

He looked over to where Narissa was and smiled before nodding. "She's fine. Back on her feet and holding off the worm. You should stay and rest. I'll go and help her out.

While it killed me that I wasn't going to be actively participating in the fighting anymore, I knew that he was right. "Fine," I grumbled.

In return, he shook his head before running forward and joining Narissa in her fight. Turning my body so I could see what was happening, I was amazed to see how Saba was already working so well with Narissa. Being a titan mage as well as a light mage, it wasn't usually easy to work with her and avoid getting stepped on. It took me a few training sessions to get working with her down to what we could do now. While Saba wasn't perfect at working with her, he was making sure to stay out of the way of her footsteps.

It wasn't long before the two of them forced the worm to retreat and, after they were sure that it was gone, the two of them walked over to me. "Dislocated your shoulder again Eden?" Narissa joked with me. On one of the missions she was on with Del and me, I had dislocated the left shoulder due to the wyvern getting behind me. I was not happy about that.

But, to her jab. "Different shoulder this time Narissa." I then motioned to the offending limb. "Care to give me a hand?"

She nodded and walked over before speaking. "So Saba, what are you doing out here? From how we parted ways, I didn't expect to see you out here...and especially not helping us."

As Narissa put herself behind me and prepared to fix my shoulder, I saw that Saba looked slightly guilty. "I realized that I shouldn't have snapped at you three for looking at my stuff. You weren't messing with it and I overreacted. I am sorry."

"You're fine Saba." I waved off his apology. "We were actually about to head back and apologize to you. We shouldn't have invaded your privacy like that and shit!" I ended that uncharacteristically as Narissa surprised me in fixing my dislocated shoulder. "Damnit Narissa give me a little more warning!" I growled at my guildmate.

Instead of looking placated, like I hoped she would, she simply shook her head. "No. Last time I warned you, you bit my hand and drew blood!"

...What? She surprised me. "Not my fault your reaction time is less than average," I grumbled as I massaged my fixed shoulder. But, then I looked at Saba. "What did cause you to come out here? Not that I'm not thankful to you, but why do you have a travel bag?"

He looked embarrassed for a second before speaking. "Well, I realized when you three left that I haven't allowed myself public interactions for years...ever since the train crash. So, I decided to come out and explore the world. I wasn't sure what to do until I remembered you all talking about how you were a part of a magic guild. I have magic and I realized that you three seemed nice and I wanted to try and catch up to you both and ask if...well...maybe I could join your guild?"

My smile was wide as I finally stood up and held out my left hand. "Yeah! I know the two of us are down for that and the mutt won't have a choice. If we push ourselves, we can make it to the guild by tonight if we can get back to Crocus and hop a blimp ride. They had a rotation of troops heading there and we have a deal that can get us a ride there."

The three of us started to walk back to Crocus with Pitch flying above us before Saba decided to ask something else. "Mutt? What's that about?"

Narissa, Pitch, and I let out laughs before Narissa answered. "You'll understand better once we get to the guild but we can explain some now. The guild master, who's a real softy at heart, is a transformation mage that is a master of jackal transformations. So, one of his nicknames is mutt. Also acceptable are master, dog, or his name. We'll let him introduce himself with the others in the guild once we get there."

The trip back to the guild went fast and Saba asked a lot of questions on the way. Not just that, though, but once we got to the guild, I was thrown a surprise by Saba, whose last name was Auris. Anu, the mutt, had heard of Saba's family and explained to the rest of us that he was the last of a noble family of Seven that everyone thought died in the train crash that landed Saba in the desert. Saba asked us not to spread around his last name since he wanted this new life without strains from Seven since the reason his family was on that train in the first place was that his family was escaping political turmoil.

After Saba got his guild mark, he threw Narissa and me another curveball and, instead of joining one of our teams, he joined Sawyer, Constantius, and Hope on team Nightingale instead. I was slightly sore about that one, but I had a feeling that we would have a lot of fun regardless so I let it go.

* * *

 **Saba: *looks around guildhall* So I traded a small cave for a bigger one?**

 **Eden: Pretty much. But, we have more people here than you did in your cave. Plus, Melody is one hell of a cook. *walks away***

 **Anu: *walks up* Now, Saba, it is your turn to help me with my,**

 **Hope: *head slaps Anu* No dog. The paperwork is all yours and unless they lose a bet to you or want to help, none of the members have to help you.**

 **Anu: *pouts* Meanie. *walks away***

 **Hope: *shakes head* That man tries that with every new member of the guild. He got me real good when I joined. If it wasn't for the others catching on, I would probably still be doing it for the idiot.**

 **Saba: *relieved* Good, because I have no idea how paperwork is supposed to be filled out.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! You have now met Saba the sand mage! He is kind of a hermit who has been living on his own for a while before the girls and Pitch show up. I hope you caught some things about his background. He has connections to someone you all should know of and I think I gave enough hints in the chapter for you to figure it out. But, if not, oh well. You'll just have to wait for a future story to reveal that.**

 **We are getting ever closer to the end of this first story of the Jackals. This story is meant to introduce how most of the members of Jackal Fang came to the guild. The next story will be much shorter than this and will be introducing five more members to the guild. Once I get to that story, it won't take as long to update (since I have a number of those chapters done). It's just a matter of getting everyone else here introduced first.**

 **So, without further ado, here are the next chapters for this story!**

 **Chapter 12: The Night Hunter**

 **Chapter 13: Words of Expression**

 **Chapter 14: ...(Find out next time!)**

 **And that is all for now. I'll probably be getting the next chapter posted not long after this one so you won't have long to wait. Until then though, TTYL! *Shutting up and dancing***


	13. The Night Hunter

**sinceDisclaimer: I only own my OCs.**

* * *

 **Sorano: *confused* You are having a chapter take place around Halloween...and it is the end of February?**

 **Authoress: *upset* I meant to wait for near Halloween to post it...but I didn't want people to have to wait that long.**

 **Tolax: *frowns* So what you are saying is that you have been sitting on this for months and haven't bothered to post this?**

 **Authoress: *chuckles nervously* Heh...*runs***

 **Del: *smirks* Let the hunt begin. *all chase Authoress***

* * *

Chapter 12: The Night Hunter

 **October 30, 787**

 **Nero's 1st P.O.V.**

I knew that, at times, people looked at my organization as a dark gray organization, especially among the two organizations that worked around Dawn City. The one truly neutral organization, Equinox, was a guiding light for the people who had problems and needed a fair resolution. They had been around for a while now.

Then, a new guild planted root in the mountains just south of the city. Jackal Fang. When I had first heard the name, they seemed to be destined to be like every other light guild I had met in my time. Loud, brash, and would think that they already owned the world. However, that changed when Anu came for Melody.

Oh, people had tried before to take her. Even Paralex showed interest in relieving me of her. But, I couldn't. The contract from the biological parents of Melody clearly said that I could not simply give away or sell her, nor could I offer her freedom on my own. So, seeing no way around it, I simply made sure she was as comfortable here at Crypt Veil as she could be and that none of my members messed with her. It wasn't hard to do that though, as all the members here saw Melody as a sister.

So when the dog interrupted my review of the guild, since I had just returned that morning from a trip to one of our satellite buildings, I was honestly quite surprised and nervous. Nervous, because I knew the past of Anu. He was deadly and, honestly, still quite young...though old for his previous profession. His determination when he asked for the contracts binding Melody inspired the thought in my mind at how to circumnavigate the restraints binding me from the contract.

Plus, that circumnavigation allowed me to truly study Anu Biskaln. I wasn't disappointed. So, letting Melody go to him was one of the easiest choices I ever made. And I have not regretted it in the slightest. Melody still comes by to visit every once in a while along with her guildmates and they seem like a perfect environment for Melody to be in.

With the treaty our three organizations have to help each other, Dawn City has slowly seen a prosperity boom. Heck, Halloween was tomorrow and, last year, the dog started a tradition of having a parade to show off the town, and his guild, and the festival that surrounded that event brought in a fair amount of money to the town that helped us grow.

I had even heard rumors that Dawn City was being thought about as a location for the Grand Magic Games that had started happening. It would certainly help the city. However, I knew that it would bring too much focus to the city, and the guild helping it was trying to stay out of as much of the news as possible. Very hard to do that if guilds started coming from all over and stayed here. Oh well. Anu did work hard to keep Dawn City growing.

The sound of someone walking in caused me to look up to see Adrian coming up to me. He was supposed to be finding out any last-minute information about an auction we were going to be attending in Gallowstown. We have been looking for some special ethernano protection runes for some time and this auction was supposed to be selling them.

Of course, this was a black auction so we had to investigate each one deeply to make sure that we would not be taking part in things that were too illegal. While I would allow members of the guild to purchase illegal items, like the ethernano protection runes, I would not allow my members to be seen near the location of an auction where human slave trafficking occurred.

While before, my guild would anonymously leave hints with the Rune Knights to hopefully take down the auction, there was a new option in town to help deal with them...and one that could succeed in that better.

"What is it, Adrian?" I asked.

He nodded toward me in greeting before speaking. "I just returned from Gallowstown. Through some information I got from a reliable source, this auction has a high chance of having slave transactions involved. My source wouldn't give me more, but given the chance, I thought I would report it to you."

Well shit. I wanted those runes too. But, I had powerful allies that I would anger if I even thought about going to the auction after getting that information. So, since I did like my allies, I took out my comm lacrima and sent a pulse through it. It didn't take long for the image of Anu to appear through it. "Nero, what can I do for you?"

Given the paperwork I could see on Anu's desk, and the lack of whiskey to be seen, I had a feeling that Anu got behind on his paperwork again. "Behind on your work again?"

The glare that Anu shot me, as I continued to smirk, told me I was right. "I wouldn't be if Team Everfall hadn't taken out three mountainsides trying to track down a dark guild three weeks ago. I don't mind the effort, but taking out three mountainsides means a lot of paperwork for me...especially with us trying to stay out of the public eye.

"So the mountains are still standing? That must be something good." I said, trying to make the mutt feel better.

He sighed. "That's one of the few positives I have. Richard should be returning from helping to repair the mountains in a few hours. His help cut down the paperwork I have to do in half." he then looked up. "But, you didn't answer my question. What can I do for you?"

Well, we did have our plans to prepare for the celebration tomorrow. Better to get them moving quickly. "I've just received information about a black-market auction that has a chance of having humans as part of the available items for purchase. I can't do much about it but I figured your guild might have a hand in checking it out."

The hard look that Anu had when he was presented with a serious situation came to him before he nodded. "I'll send Team Poison Song. They should be able to complete the mission and return in time for the big events tomorrow. I'll keep you informed."

"As expected." Was my response to him before I turned off the lacrima. The mutt may be lazy at times, but when things got serious, he was one of the most dependable people I have ever met.

"Sir," I turned to Adrian as he started talking. "what would you like for me to do now?"

"Inform the rest of the guild that we will not be going to the auction, and also have the rest of them continue preparations for tomorrow. The citizens of Dawn City are expecting a spectacle and we shouldn't disappoint them."

 **Melody's 1st P.O.V.**

I hummed to myself as I put away the glassware from this morning. Sorano, wanting to take a break from her training, was in the back cooking lunch for the day. The shepherd's pie was smelling good already. My only focus of today was to make sure that drinks remained filled for everyone…,well everyone except for Anu. While I knew it wasn't his fault for most of the paperwork, there was still too much in his office and he had to focus on getting a large amount of his paperwork done.

"Hey Melody," I turned to look at Del, who was sitting at the other side of the bar. "how's that training of yours been going?"

I sighed at that. While the training itself seemed to be going alright, I still felt an urge from my other half to take over when I let my guard down a little. The siren was too dangerous to be let out and I was not going to risk my guildmates, or anyone else in the valley during my practice runs, to try and keep her in check. Those abilities of mine would have to stay hidden for now. I didn't have control and, with my magic, that was a risk to other people. "Slowly but positively Del," I answered her.

The dragon slayer sighed but smiled. "You'll get a handle on it, Melody. If anyone can it's you." She then seemed to look around before her eyes went wide. "Shit I forgot I was going to go on a mission with Constantius and Edorin! Got to go." She then bolted out of the guild doors. I guess she was going to meet them in the valley. Eden and James had already left on a mission earlier this morning to Crocus. So, Edorin and Del needed a mission. Constantius had come to me not long after I got down here this morning and asked to take the request with the two Team Everfall mages. Well, at least it was going to be a quiet guild for Sorano and me today.

"Melody," I looked up and locked eyes with Erik as he and Narissa, my only two teammates at this point, walked up to me. "it's been a while since we went on a group mission and I think we need to."

While I did get nervous about going on missions, I knew that my team had my back. So, I nodded before peeking into the kitchen. "Sorano? I'm going on a mission with my team. Can you hold things down here until we get back?"

Sorano, in turn, peeked her head out from the food pantry before nodding. "Yeah, I can. Just make sure you all are back in time for the parade tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that the people of Dawn City might revolt if their favorite sound mage isn't in the parade."

I almost forgot about our Halloween parade. But, I knew that our team could push a mission and get it done in time to get back. "Will do Sorano," Narissa said from behind me before she grabbed my arm. I barely got a wave off at Sorano before the Giantess pulled me to the mission board. Immediately, I started to scan the board for a mission that we could do in time to get back tomorrow for the parade.

"Team Poison Song," Well, looked like Anu might have a mission for us. He rarely addressed us by our team name. It was usually when he was assigning us team missions. Well, good thing we were looking for a mission to go on. We waited for Anu to get down the stairs before he spoke. "I just got off the lacrima with Nero. The auction they were going to go to in Gallowstown is going to have slaves as a part of the auction. I need you three to go there and shut them down. The auction is tonight, so you should have time to wrap things up there and then get back to Dawn City in time for tomorrow. Will you take the mission?"

Since Erik was the team leader, then we had to wait for his response since this was to be a team mission. But, I didn't doubt what he was going to answer. "Yeah, we'll take it." Exactly what I thought he would answer. Being held against one's will was something that hit hard with all of us and, while I had the best time of it because Crypt Veil was forced to keep me, it was something that the three of us had to grow up with. The chance to help save someone from this fate was something we would always take.

So, once Anu gave us the information that he had, the three of us left the guild and headed toward Dawn City. Once we got there, we got our tickets and got on a train to Gallowstown. As the train moved across the tracks, however, I started to feel nervous. Being in an auction house where items were being sold off always made me nervous. It made me think of the contract that bound me to Crypt Veil for so many years before Anu destroyed it.

"Stop worrying Melody," Erik said causing me to jump slightly and focus on my two teammates. "Your contract is gone and we have your back." He then shook his head. "Now, we need to figure out what we are going to do."

Since I had gone to a few of these auctions with Crypt Veil, well the non-slave ones, when I was still with them, I had a feeling that there was just one way to go to get all three of us in there. "It might be best if one of us goes in as a slave collector. The rest of us will be your collection of slaves. It's the only way that the three of us can go into the auction together since we don't have a guild behind us like Crypt Veil normally did, and won't cause us to get any second glances."

Narissa and Erik both seemed to agree with my idea. "Sounds like a good plan." Narissa vocally agreed with me. I grew worried when she pointed at me. "Melody, I think you should be our collector for this."

Wha… "I can't do that!" I let out before shaking my head. "I can't be a collector they have to,"

"Tell those under them what to do and make sure that their will is getting done with an iron fist?" Erik interrupted me. Exactly! I couldn't do that. What were they thinking making me, "Anu hid some of his paperwork in the bar because he said that was the last place you'd look."

Anger surged through me at those words. "That mutt had better hope he's dead by the time we get back." I stayed angry for a few moments at that. The dog was always trying to get out of his work and I would make him….

Feeling eyes on me, I looked up to see Erik and Narissa staring at me with knowing looks. "And you said you couldn't get your will done with an iron fist." Narissa taunted me with that.

And I was trapped. Imagine that. A sound mage getting cornered by words. So, I let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll try as much as I can. Let's figure out how this is going to happen."

"Melody, did you go with Nero and Crypt Veil to auctions in the past?" Erik asked me.

"Yeah. According to Nero, I used to put off an air that caused others to hesitate in messing with us. I never really got what he was saying. I just stood there. Didn't even speak." What was he getting at?

Narissa must have picked up on something I didn't. "What did he have you do, as your job while there?"

I had to think about that for a minute. "Honestly, I was told to just stay silent and watch the people around us. See how they were acting and go from there. Why?"

"You'll just use what you saw with Nero and apply it. We'll trust you on that. Narissa and I can act the part of your obedient slaves pretty well." I hit Erik's knee at that. It was going to be so weird to be a 'slave owner' for this and I wasn't excited about it. But, my team was very supportive and I knew that they wouldn't let me down. Plus, as I thought about what I used to see when I was with Nero, ideas came to my mind that might just make this doable. When I took a glance at Erik, I saw that he was looking at me and smirking. No doubt that he was in my thoughts. This mission would go alright. I just had to believe that it would.

 **Zoe's 1st P.O.V.**

It was cold. I couldn't feel my fingers and I was low on magic energy. Honestly, I just wanted to disappear into the bars that surrounded me.

I had never been outside of the community before and I hated this. The elders had always warned me about the outside world, and how the non-noms, people who weren't nomadic, were greedy and destroyed everything they touched. I didn't believe them. We couldn't know what all non-noms were like. Every chance I got, I snuck to the edge of our camps and into the towns. I watched as non-noms interacted with each other, played with each other, and helped each other. I thought that was the proof I needed. Non-noms weren't the same that we heard about in the stories. They were just like us.

But the night I went to tell my case to the council, was the night my hope died.

Flashback:

 _The sound of an explosion hit my ears. I flinched and turned to see my people running through the camp. Fires were dancing high in the skies and I could feel the fear that my people were feeling. I didn't waste a moment. I knew that we had just traded with another nomadic tribe to get an experimental portable heater. It would help us in our winter caves when we got there. But, the elders were worried about it and feared that it might explode. That the machine might anger the spirits of nature and cause them to destroy the object._

 _It seemed like the elders were right._

 _I could feel the heat of the flames licking my body as I moved to where the explosion was. Someone could be hurt and I had to help. I had to make sure that everyone was safe. The nature spirits, when angered, could wreak havoc on all who were in their sights._

 _When I arrived at the scene, my eyes widened. My people...people I grew up with and learned from, being slaughtered by laughing men and women non-noms. They were attacking us. I needed to save them. How dare they?_

 _With a snarl, I launched at the nearest non-nom, activating my bone magic before piercing her neck. The child that I saved looked up at me. "Get out of here!" I yelled at him as I continued to move forward. These non-noms had messed with the wrong nomads. I didn't hesitate to slice into these monsters. The elders were right. Non-noms were monsters. They needed to be cut down, and I would make sure that my bones were covered in their blood to equal the blood they shed of my people._

 _Movement out of the side of my vision caused me to lash out with my bone. Instead of hitting the flesh of a non-nom, my bone protrusion struck against steel. My eyes locked with the sickly green eyes of a non-nom and a smirk was on the woman's face. I would destroy her. "Oh, you are different than these other mongrels. You'll fetch us a nice price on the markets."_

" _Your head will be my trophy to present the spirits tonight," I growled at her as we continued to clash with each other. Her blade and my bone struck against each other repeatedly and it was now that I was thanking old man Zion for his lessons in fighting. This monster in front of me was not making it easy for me to take her down._

 _After we separated from a stalemate, I tensed as I felt magic energy growing around her. "I think it's time to turn out the lights on this fight." A black smoke then seemed to secrete like a dark spirit from the non-nom and soon, the area around our fight went dark. I could, for now, just make out the outline of my enemy. "I'll make sure to take care of you quite well mongrel."_

 _A growl slipped out of my throat as I activated my secondary magic. My name was Zoe Dragic, a descendant of the great ones that gave birth to our tribe, and the spirit of the Owl was entangled in my soul. This darkness was nothing. "You will die this night." Once my vision was enhanced by my patron spirit, I could easily slice at the non-nom, causing her to back away from me, which made her darkness magic dissipate._

 _At first, the monster looked surprised at my retaliation. However, as she stared at me, I could see a dark greed spirit enter her eyes as she seemed to stare into my own. "Oh, you are a jewel among jeweled mongrels. You will fetch a very high price."_

 _There was no way that I would let this non-nom take me. I would make sure the take her head before I,_

 _Pain flared in my head and I felt myself falling toward the ground. As my conscious spirit started to leave me, I could hear the screams of my people._

End of Flashback.

I sat shivering in this cage, the heated spirit of war had long since left my body. While I felt anger at the non-noms, I now thought about those non-noms that I used to study. Were all non-noms possessed by the evil spirits like the ones that attacked my people, who slaughtered them all? I couldn't think clearly as I sat in this cage. I knew that I was alone. The monsters who captured me and forced me to wear these iron restraints had caused me to become the sole survivor of my people. While a part of me wished to end my life, to keep these monsters from gaining anything from me, I knew that I had to live. I had to live to continue the rites of my people.

These people who had me caged, they were going to sell me soon. I could hear the chanting of numbers by the non-noms on the other side of the curtain. Before they could come for me, I sent a quick prayer to the great spirit of the future, Baishu. If he could deliver me from these non-noms, I would serve whatever being that delivered me from this hell for as long as I lived. I knew it was a risky prayer, since another non-nom, and a cruel one at that, could be the one to remove me from here. But, according to the elders, that was the risk that had to be taken when dealing with Baishu. He knew how the future would unfold and would make sure that the path before you was the correct one, whether you agree with it or not. But, from where I was sitting, anything would be better than being in this cage.

A shiver traveled down my spine as the non-nom who was selling the stuff, and would be selling me, walked backstage and stopped in front of my cage. He slowly grinned at me before he motioned to the stage. "Your audience awaits."

 **Narissa's 1st P.O.V.**

As many times that I had been on missions with Melody over my time in Jackal Fang, I still couldn't get over just how easy it was for her to manipulate people with her sound magic. When the three of us had arrived at the auction, the guard who the hosts had hired to keep legal officials out didn't want to let us in. But, a few magic-enhanced words from Melody later we were walking in and the guard didn't seem any wiser to it.

People did stare in our direction, contrary to what we planned for, but as they did I was getting a sense of what Nero was talking about. Whenever people looked to us, and mainly at her, a suppressive wave seemed to come off of Melody as we walked. Maybe it was her nervousness, or maybe she was acting the part of a slave owner well. Either way, people never looked back at us after that wave came out. It was a good thing since we were attracting some attention.

Since we had arrived an hour before the auction began, Melody had led us toward the stage. Again, I got to watch our S class sound mage use her magic to convince a stagehand to get us a full listing of the items for auction. While Melody didn't show us the list, since it would look strange for a master to show the slaves what was on the auction table, I could tell that Nero's source was right about this auction at the brief flash of anger I saw on Melody's and Erik's faces. Erik was so lucky he could hear her thoughts.

"Well well, look at this." I felt a shiver travel up my spine as I turned to see some creep, who probably had money, looking over me before he traced a finger up my arm. "I wonder how many jewels it would take for your master to sell you to me, or at least rent me the use of your company. What I could do to that." His eyes were freaking me out and, if I wasn't undercover as a slave, then I would have already knocked this guy two sides of yesterday.

Erik, who was paying attention, let out a growl at the man. I knew that I didn't want to know what was going on in this creep's head. Something told me that it wasn't pretty.

It took a lot of self-control to not act surprised when Melody suddenly hit the top of Erik's head, and rather strongly, before she spoke. "You do not act that way to those above your class dog." She had decided, to help her in the act of being above us, that she would refer to us as dogs...since that was how she addressed Anu when she was angry with him. Erik shot her a look, probably out of reaction more than anything, before he made an act to look subdued.

"Well, lookie here, a proper slaveholder who knows how to handle her wares." The creepy man started to address Melody. "I am honored to make such a fine ack!"

The slimeball was cut off as Melody's hand was around his throat faster than I could blink. "My dear man, while my wares can be looked at, I did not permit you to address what is mine directly. They are nothing and to address them before you addressed me is inexcusable. That offense alone should give me the right to end your miserable maggot of an existence. Then, to impede that offense even further to touch what is mine." Melody paused a moment before she leaned in closer, her grip on the man's neck growing visibly tighter. "You do not mess with what is mine."

I could feel her magic lacing with fear as it reached the man. The way that his eyes widened, almost made me feel sorry for the creep. Almost. The man scurried out of the way faster than I thought possible and, as I turned to look at Melody, I could tell she was purposefully making a presence. The slow way that she stood up, the deliberate and challenging look to the people who had been attracted to that show, and instead of saying a word to anyone, she merely looked to the doors, that had just opened to admit the buyers, before she slowly led the two of us.

Seriously, even though she was nervous about this, Melody could act evil if needed. I'm pretty sure that everyone gave us a ten-foot space to walk through the doors. Once we were seated, it didn't take long for people to fill in around us and for the auction to begin.

Not a lot of interesting things seemed to be going out on this bid. Some ethernano protection runes, a few ceremonial knives, some magic weapons that were brought in, and things like that. However, I couldn't hold back my shiver as the last item was being taken off the stage. A dragonwood altar. Seriously, like we needed more of those damned things floating around circulation for creeps to use. But, we weren't here to stop that. There was a slave who was going to be sold and since the rest of the list seemed to have been gone through, since Melody was sneaking and leaving it exposed in her lap, then this last item had to be what we were waiting for.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen," The auctioneer started. The sound of wheels turning caused me to look at the left of the stage as something covered by a cloth was wheeled in. "the item that many of you have been waiting for is finally available. The sole surviving member of the nomadic Valheller people, a specimen who has been seen to use both bone magic and a rare owl takeover, feast your eyes upon the owl keeper!"

The sheet covering the cage was lifted and a growl threatened to come out of my throat when I saw the girl underneath. From the magic surrounding the cage, it looked like she was being forced to use her magic for the pleasure of these monsters. Before the auctioneer could even give a starting price, numbers were flying through the crowd. Ten million, twenty million, fifty million, three hundred million, and the numbers didn't seem to be ending.

Taking a glance at Melody, I could tell that she was struggling to hold back her siren. I had seen her do this a few times before, hold back her sirenic half. It wasn't hard to see parallels between this girl's situation and Melody's. I had heard of owl takeover magic. She was a mage that had a takeover that was inherited through blood, to a lesser extent like Melody's siren, and was being sold because of that uniqueness would echo to Melody's past.

After a bid of nine hundred million jewel was placed, and the auctioneer asked if there were any more bids, Melody slowly stood up. Before we came tonight, Melody explained that money was not the only collateral that people here could bid with. Those bids would come after the money bids died out. Since nine hundred million jewel was a lot to bid against, it wasn't surprising that no one else stood. "I have a bid," Melody said as a way to get the auctioneer's attention.

This seemed to excite the auctioneer. "Oh, a floor bid. What is it that you wish to bid?"

I knew the time of our attack was coming as Melody sent a glare at the auctioneer. "I bid the lives of everyone in this building in exchange for the girl. Give her to me, and you may leave here in custody, but alive. If you do not, I cannot guarantee your continued existence on the living plane." Laughter erupted from the people in the audience at her bid.

And that laughter turned to screams when Melody launched toward the stage, and we followed behind her. People were moving in a panic to escape the auction as we took the stage and defended Melody as she worked to free the girl from the cage. While the fighting was a blur, I did remember getting to knock out that creep from earlier. That made acting as a slave worth it.

Once the crowds died down, and the four of us were all that were remaining conscious in the room, Erik and I turned to where Melody and the girl were. With the owl and bone features gone, since the girl was out of the cage, I saw that she had long forest green hair and heterochromia eyes, the left ocean blue and the right the same color as her hair.

When the girl suddenly got on all fours in front of Melody, we all took a step back. What in the hell was this girl doing? "My thanks for rescuing me. The great spirit has shown favor to my future. My life is now in your control."

Uh….what?

It seemed like Erik was able to catch what she was thinking, though, and shook his head. "You have the wrong idea. We weren't here to participate in the auction, just to rescue you. We can't own you, even if you want us to."

But, the girl seemed adamant about it. "No, I swore to the great spirit that I would give my life to whoever was able to free me from that cage. You have done so and now I must enact my word that I gave the great spirit."

So, this was a matter of her beliefs. But, that couldn't happen. It was illegal to own people like this. How were we going to get this girl to understand that?

Melody, thankfully, seemed to have an answer. "Stand up and tell us your name." What was she getting at? Was she still acting like a slaveholder? A glance at Erik told me that he was just as confused as I was.

The girl seemed relieved at Melody's seeming order. "My name is Zoe Dragic. I use bone magic and owl takeover magic. I,"

Melody held up a hand, which caused Zoe to stop speaking before she spoke. "I am Melody Sirenaid, this is Narissa Odir, and this is Erik. From this day forward, as is our will, you will live your own life in the way that you must see legally fit." She then placed her hand on the shocked girl's shoulder. "You are lesser than no person and you are equal to all. Please, address even us as so and no order shall hold power over you unless you will it." I could feel Melody's magic interlaced in, and enforcing, her words on Zoe.

That was the way to do it. Melody must have realized that Zoe needed an order of release to keep with her customs and that sounded like the way to do so. Zoe looked gratefully at Melody. "Thank you, Melody. What should I do now, though? My people are no more and I am alone. You three are the first non-noms that I have interacted with that have shown me good."

Melody hesitated at that and I could tell that she was thinking. But, I knew what to do as soon as the girl asked that. "Well, if you would like, you could join our guild. We are members of a magic guild called Jackal Fang and everyone there is like us. You'll get along great with them."

Zoe looked nervous at that. "And your people, this Jackal Fang clan, will accept me?"

"Of course they will," I said. "If they took in us, then they'll love you." I then realized that, if we wanted to get back in time for the parade in Dawn City, then we had to get moving. But, I didn't want to rush Zoe.

Thankfully, Zoe was smiling when I was answering her. "I will gladly join your clan then."

Erik nodded. "And just so there isn't any confusion, you will join our team too?"

When the Zoe looked confused, Melody jumped in. "We have teams in the guild to help keep track of each other and to go on group missions with people we train regularly with, like our team here. We are Team Poison Song and we would like to have you on our team."

Zoe smiled again. "I would love to. How long will it take us to arrive at your...our clan's home?"

We explained to her where the guildhall was and she seemed very excited. That excitement grew when we told her that we would be meeting up with the rest of our guildmates at a parade in Dawn City, our guild's host town. Through the night and the next morning, Zoe dove fully into answering any questions that we had about her people and, in turn, we answered everything we could answer that she asked about what us 'non-noms' were like.

When we got to the parade, the mutt was ecstatic that we had another member and made a large spectacle of initiating Zoe at the kick-off of the parade. As I looked at Zoe next to me, for she was sharing my float with me this year, I felt like she was going to fit in very well around our guild. Who said that you couldn't get good gifts on Halloween?

* * *

 **Erik: *smirks* So, how much poison should I put in her?**

 **Authoress: *bound and panicked* None!**

 **Zoe: *ignoring Authoress* Maybe a little. We have to make sure she can continue typing and can breathe and see.**

 **Erik: So just enough to make this enjoyable.**

 **Melody: *walks in and grabs two* That is enough you two. I think our Authoress has learned her lesson. *narrows eyes* And if she hasn't then I won't stop you next time.**

 **Authoress: *shivers* Yes ma'am.**

* * *

 **AN: And here is the next chapter! I swear this is the last chapter that I have typed for this story for now! I didn't mean to keep this from you all for so long, but I get distracted easily and I have work. Not the greatest combination. So anyway, we now have Zoe Dragic as a member of the guild! Seemingly not used to interacting with people outside of her 'annihilated' clan. Thankfully, Melody picks up on this and makes quick work to help Zoe out of her predicament.**

 **The next chapter will be introducing yet another member of the guild and this one will bring yet another new magic to our lineup. It should be pretty interesting to see where that is going to take us. Speaking on the next chapter though, here are the next chapters for your curiosity.**

 **Chapter 13: Words of Expression**

 **Chapter 14: Wish for a Sparkling Diamond**

 **Chapter 15: ...(of course you will find out next time!)**

 **And that is all for now. Until next time, please leave a review, or say hi, and I will get back to you. Until then though, catch you all later! *craving shrimp for some reason***


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